Bendy - The Ink Catastrophe
by TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3
Summary: Months after the events of 'Bendy and the Ink Machine', Henry is selling the Ink Machine at San Francisco while Bendy stayed behind in Brooklyn, meeting a new girl. When the Ink Machine mysteriously disappeared and ink monsters invaded the world, two groups on different paths must set out to find out who's behind the ink invasion. (Collaboration with famous authors on Fanfiction)
1. Prologue

***WARNING! THIS STORY IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 13 YEARS OLD OR FOR THOSE WHO ARE EASILY DISTURBED. PEOPLE WHO ARE SUFFERING FROM ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, SUICIDE OR ABUSIVE HOUSEHOLD MAY NOT HAVE A SAFE EXPERIENCE READING THIS STORY. IF THIS IS A THING, DON'T RED THIS STORY. IF YOU READ THIS STORY, YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE CONSENT TO READING THIS STORY THAT CONTAINS A FEW HIGHLY DARK DISTURBING CONTENT, OTHERWISE DON'T READ IT. THIS STORY MAY BE CHANGED TO M IF THEREFORE POSSIBLE.***

**AN: What's up my rock 'n' rollers? This is TurquoiseTriangle or call me Cheah.**

**It's been at least 4 months since I'd finished Forces United 2 - Resist The Dark. Sadly, that story is pretty s**t. Excuse me for my language, but this new 'Bendy' story is going to be rated T, so curse language will be used (despite half of the letters will be censored). Anyway, Resist The Dark only got 450 views with only 3 reviews. Sigh...god, I feel ashamed, but thanks to those who still read the story.**

**I wanted to make a strong comeback, so I decided to make this story. 'Bendy And The Ink Machine' has been a popular indie video game. Even though I don't play it (I HATE playing horror games), I checked out some gameplays. I even checked out the wiki and I REALLY like all the lore of it. I was inspired by the story that I decided to make my own version of the game's story. However, I have to change it since it wouldn't be that great. I wanted to write up something new.**

**For this story, I decided to call up a few other authors of the Fanfiction community through PMs. I finally came up with something great. You will be surprised; most of the main characters of this story (or let's say OCs) are made by some of the best Fanfiction authors. Think of it as a '21-Anniversary Special Collaboration'...in the game industry, of course.**

**That's right. _Infinite's Ruby_, _OctoReader_, _The Real Don Steele_, _SecretStarr101,_ _SuperKirbyLand234_, _Z__oggerific__, The Sensational SpiderDom321 _and _TheGameNguyener_ made their own characters for the story; like author avatars. I even made my own author avatar, but he isn't the main character.**

**Before we start, I like to thank the authors who helped out and made the OCs for my story. I will try to describe them more and how they contribute to this (I mean, not put them out of focus). This story will also have some aspects from the authors' stories, so you might recognize a few parts. Try to find them!**

**This story is inspired by some stories such as 'Poor Little Souls' by _ShadowFang14_ (is that the right author?). I even got some ideas from SMG4's 'Anime Arc', 'Waluigi Arc', 'Rapper Bob Arc' and 'Meta Runner'. And of course, this story will have MEMES. Don't forget the MEMES.**

**I don't own 'Bendy and the Ink Machine' game. I only own the plot and some of my OCs. Most of the main characters are owned by the authors who helped out.**

**Enough talk, sit back and enjoy the ride.**

* * *

**Dedicated to QueenCelina33. Her 'Bendy' story inspired me to make this one. **

**Dedicated to the people in real life I distrust. Sorry that I tried to run away from you guys.**

* * *

**Not everyone always goes up to what we expected them to be whether in a good shape or not. - TurquoiseTriangle.**

* * *

**Prologue**

**Bendy's POV**

Hey there, people! My name is Bendy. Bendy the Dancing Demon! And you know that I'm the famous character of the 1900s cartoon called…BENDY THE DANCING DEMON!

…

Uh…the cartoon hasn't got any hits during this time in the 21st century…but don't worry. It's a hit in America!

In case anyone is wondering how I look like, I'm a black anthropomorphic short demon with white on my face. My head resembles cartoonish horns that always remain facing the viewer no matter which way I face. I lack a neck so my head floats a few inches away from my body. I have a mouth and large pie eyes. I even have a long tail with the tip shaped like a demon (because the drafts gave me a tail before). For attire, I wear a pair of gloves, a white bow tie and shiny black shoes.

Now that I described my appearance, I want to discuss about my story.

In the beginning, somewhere in the 1980s, I was born at Joey Drew Studios out from the Ink Machine. That machine was used to bring cartoon characters to life using ink. When I entered the world, I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was who I was and the adventures I had…or at least what was in the cartoons. They were in my head even though I never went through them before. I was greeted by Joey Drew – who was the manager of the studio.

For many years, I had been helping out the team. They were the nicest people I have ever met. I chose to stay at the studio to help around, either drew any extra details or being recorded live. This got people jumping out of their seats in surprise. Speaking of people, I got a lot of attention. They came to the workshop to see me perform…dance…sing. I bet you would have known about it already, huh? I'm pretty famous around the world!

However, things started to go downhill. Because of the Ink Machine, it made a mess around the studio. Pipes were bursting and ink was spilling everywhere, frustrating the workers. One thing that creeped me out a bit was when I saw Sammy Lawrence – the music conductor – 'appeasing' the gods. I didn't know what kind of influence got him to do that kind of rubbish.

A few years later, a couple of new cartoon characters were brought to life. This included Boris the Wolf and Alice Angel. Those two were my friends from the cartoons so I was happy to see them. It was lonely to be the only ink creations. The Butcher Gang – Charley, Barley and Edgar – were also created. They were my rivals so we got a bit of a rivalry, which caused a bit of a problem, but we are fine now!

…OK. They are still hostile to me, but I'm trying my best to be polite to them.

Anyway, despite our cartoons being so popular, things started to go awry. We got many complaints of how the show was a mockery to religion. This was harsh as I was made a demon, but I wasn't. It was just my appearance and I never have any ill intentions other than harmless pranks or jokes. As if it wasn't bad enough, we started to lose a lot of viewers. People started to abandon our shows on TV channels, movies, books and media. Money was tight and we got finances overdue. Joey must had took this the hardest. Then he did something that changed the whole thing.

He was overtired and stressed out. He yelled at me for not being perfect enough even though I did my best. Losing his sanitary, Joey started to override the machine causing it to malfunction and went out of control. Suddenly, ink sprayed all over. It covered one of the workers…and it sucked him in.

I didn't know what was going on, but I remembered people running as ink flooded the entire studio and large hands grabbing anyone who tried to run. Alice tried to get me to safety, but I was knocked out by an incoming flood.

When I woke up, I found myself on the underground levels. I didn't know how I ended up in a random room or where everyone else was, but that day, the studio became a nightmare. Monsters and ink took over and no place was safe. I was all alone for 10 years, trying to find my way out or find at least someone I knew. Everyone was gone…including Joey Drew. But…I encountered some ink monsters. They tried to hurt me. I believed that they were actually the workers who got trapped and turned into…these monsters.

I was right.

Later, as I was making my way to safety, I heard something crumbling beneath me and I fell in. I had to grab onto the hanging ceiling to avoid drowning in an ink flood. I saw another figure falling into the flood. When that figure managed to drain out the ink, he looked at me.

It was…Henry Stein.

Light skin. Blue eyes. Grey hair.

It was him.

I was happy to see him. It was so long ever since I saw a human. Even better. He was the ORIGINAL creator of me. HE was the one who invented me in the first place.

This was the first time I saw Henry Stein. He was drafted just before I was born. He came back upon receiving a letter to come back to the studio for a visit. I knew that the letter was a death trap.

Henry and I fought our way through the haunted studio. We solved mysteries, discovered new questions, fought through monsters, made alliances and finally found a way to save everyone in the studio.

We managed to kill a beast that nearly looked like me and this caused the whole studio to revert back to normal. The beast revealed to be Joey Drew.

There was a dramatic change ever since the events of the studio.

With everyone saved, the cops were able to complete their missing files of those people. The workers were placed into therapy due to suffering PTSD after the events at the studio, but they should recover.

Joey even received therapy. Even though he was responsible for all of this, many people believed that he was under the presence of something evil. By now, he is still recovering and he needs to use a wheelchair to get around due to injuring himself.

Henry and Joey made amends and together, they became co-managers of the company. The Ink Machine is disabled, but no one uses it again. Actually, it was planned to send it to a museum in San Francisco and they got the deal. I wanted to destroy that piece of junk, but I'm happy that it wasn't useful anymore. I'm happy to say that the cartoons are rising to stardom again. Boris, Alive and I now live with Henry since I want to see the town for once.

The street people are nice, but they say that I look odd. I met Henry's wife, Linda who accept me straight away. I was one of the first to see Henry's newborn baby. I was even greeted by Henry's teenage daughter, Laura – even though I was a bit disturbed that she is black.

Now, it is nearly the end of summer so that means Laura will be heading back to school. I even heard that her cousin is coming to stay with us, so it will be nice to see another face.

What can possibly go wrong?

* * *

Bendy: Now it's YOUR turn!

Elena: Wait. WHAT?!

Bendy: C'mon! We have to take turns telling this story from both our points.

Elena: But shouldn't the author write down what I thought?

Bendy: That is if you don't want to get paid. Besides, everyone needs to see what you THINK and FEEL about this whole adventure we got into. YOU'RE the protagonist of the story. You deserve the credit.

Elena: What about Henry?

Bendy: He's busy. He can't be here with us. C'mon. Please?

Elena: …

Bendy: Pweety pwease?

Elena: …OK…I will try to…

* * *

**Elena's POV, Brooklyn Airport, 1/09 (at 4:50 pm)**

Have you ever feel stressed? Lonely? Unable to tell your problems? Well I had been one of these people. I used to believe that if I didn't show my true feelings, I wouldn't be hurt. I wouldn't hurt anyone and nobody could hurt me. I had a lot of trust issues that I took people for granted and see them in the wrong way. But I was wrong. Let's not get to the end part. Let's get to the beginning.

I looked out of the plane window as it was heading near the Brooklyn airport. It was a long flight and I thought it would take about 5 days to get to Brooklyn. Seriously, you DON'T want to spend 5 days in a small plane.

Especially if you are in the middle of a couple.

I was sandwiched between a husband and a wife. And they had a BABY with them. The baby was sitting in the mother's LAP. I would have asked to swap seats, but the plane was about to take-off, so I remained silent.

It wasn't fun sitting next to the baby. Having to smell what it was eating, being covered in baby puke, hearing the baby cry when it didn't get what it wanted, you name it. I didn't want to be mean so I just listened to my music from my phone.

Finally, the plane landed. It was such a bumpy one causing the baby to cry again. I couldn't take it, so after the passengers were allowed to go off, I hastily grabbed my bags and ran off.

I took my red luggage and a large white handbag. I took two boxes filled with my belongings from the conveyor belt in the baggage claim and put them onto a trolley. Pushing the trolley, I walked through the airport. It was weird being in a place you haven't visited recently. I hadn't come to Brooklyn for a long time so it felt foreign.

I made a pit stop and went to the toilets…of course I pushed the trolley inside…for safety reasons.

After I took a leak, I walked up to the mirror. Staring back at me in the mirror was a young 15 years old girl. She had tan skin, silver eyes and white hair tied up in a short ponytail. Yeah, she bleached her hair to white. She was wearing a red ruby necklace, a silver reflective jacket, a dark brown belt with a silver buckle, black jeans and red converse shoes.

That girl was me.

I let out a small yawn, revealing my sharp canines from my teeth that didn't protrude through my lips.

I scowled at my appearance. Sure I looked fine, but…I hate myself. I…I guess it was from my past.

Back from my old home, I was put through hell from God for no reason. The school I went to was kind of troublesome. Not everyone was nice there so I was an outcast…because I wasn't pretty enough…because I wasn't strong enough…because I wasn't SPECIAL enough…

…sorry…it's just my self-esteem that always make me feel like an ass.

Mum wasn't around to comfort me, so I was on my own.

I wondered why I could be shy or lonely or cowardly. I wondered why I hated anything girly. Compared to the other girls, I was…ugly.

I shook my head, managing to fight back the urge to shed a tear. I couldn't think about those stupid sluts back home. I was here at Brooklyn and I was starting a new life.

Uncle Henry would be wondering where I was.

After washing my face, I went out of the bathroom. I made my way out of the airport and waited around the pick-up area. There, I bumped into a man in his 50s. He was slightly taller than me, had blue eyes, light peach skin and grey hair that was slightly combed up with a light grey streak. His body was built, top brick.

Reminded me of this cool pop star.

He was just wearing a white collared shirt, black trousers and black shiny shoes. He smiled.

"Hi Elena," he said.

I hugged my uncle warmly.

"It's been so long," I said.

"Yeah," said Henry. "I'm happy that you are safe, kid."

He helped me push my belongings and put them into the car. As we got in, Henry drove the car and we got into a conversation.

"…I'm sorry about what happened to your parents," said Henry sympathetically.

"It's fine," I said, trying to hide any emotions. "I can handle it…so…is Laura good?"

"Yep. She's happy, peppy and always energetic. Always annoy me and my wife. Wonder how she will get a boyfriend with that kind of attitude."

I chuckled at that joke.

"Just to tell you, I have three new people staying at my house already. You will be sharing the same room with them. You will be able to fit in all your belongings in that room, but…please don't judge them. They are…different."

I shrugged. "Don't worry. I went through s**t more than anyone else. I went through injuries, bruises, scars and accidents so tragic. I bet nothing can faze me."

Henry bit his lip. "Hold onto that thought."

He was right…eventually.

* * *

**Bendy's POV, Stein Residence**

I was playing around with Henry's baby daughter, Grace. As curious as a baby, she was trying to reach for my face. She cooed and gripped onto my hand. I laughed at this adorable girl.

"The next thing I know," I said out loud. "There will be another girl living here. I wonder if I can get a date out with those chicks."

"Bendy!" called a voice. "Have you seen my good sneakers? I can't find them anywhere."

I looked up to see a girl coming into the kitchen – where I was. She was a 16 years old teen with tan skin, pink eyes and blonde hair with magenta streaks tied up in a ponytail. There was a large fringe combed to the right, partly covering her eye. She was wearing pink pearl earrings. At the moment, she was wearing a pink shirt and black shorts.

"Uh…I don't know," I said.

"C'mon," said Laura smirking. "You always take my things and NEVER return them back to me."

At this, we saw Boris coming in…eating half of a purple shoe. The wolf noticed our shocked expressions.

"What?" he said goofy.

I face-palmed. "Boris. I told you that shoe was not edible. I only used it as an ice cream cup so that means you don't eat it as well."

"But it tastes good!" said Boris.

Laura sighed. "Hot damn it. Never mind. Good thing I have other good-looking shoes."

DING DONG!

That was the bell. Laura let out a squeal.

"Yes!" she said. "She's here!"

I leaped off the bench and walked over to the door room. I peeped into the window to see…

"Another black girl?" I said.

OK. She had tan skin like Laura, but I thought brown skin was known to be black.

"She's not black!" said Laura coming up to me. "She's my cousin!"

"She more looks like a sister," I said. "You both have a lot in common."

The door opened to reveal her cousin along with Henry.

"Hi Dad!" said Laura happily. "Hi Elena!"

The white-haired girl chuckled shyly. "Hi Laura…"

Laura pulled Elena into a hug…well more like a death hug.

"I'm so excited that you are staying here with me!" said Laura.

"Ah…" whimpered Elena. "My spine…"

I couldn't help, but chuckle seeing this.

"OK Laura," said Henry laughing. "You may let go now before you crack another bone."

"Oh, right," said Laura quickly. "Sorry."

Elena exhaled as she was released. Laura grabbed my hand.

"Bendy," she said, moving my head to see her face. "This is Elena. Elena Rubystone. Rubystone, this is Bendy. Bendy the Dancing Demon!"

All of a sudden, Elena's face turned pale.

"Uh…" she said. "Laura…why is there a cartoon demon inside your house?"

"It's because the Ink Machine made him!" said Laura proudly. "He is a sentient being now!"

I waved at Elena timidly. Something in her silver eyes told me she looked reluctant on having me as her roommate.

"C-can he speak?" said Elena.

"Sure I can," I said bluntly.

"But how come…?"

Henry's smile slowly turned to a worried frown. "You…you never know?"

Elena turned to Henry. "Know what?"

Henry sighed. "I guess I have to explain it to you."

* * *

A couple of minutes later, we helped Elena moved her belongings into her new room. She was happy with how it was. She was quite…astonished to see Boris and Alice who greeted her warmly. I swore I saw her flinched when Boris shook her hand.

"So…" said Elena once we settled down in the kitchen and Henry told her the whole story. "…is the Joey Drew Studios still working on their projects?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah! Henry became co-manager and he is now helping Joey with a big project. However, Henry will be away for a while."

"Right," said Elena. "Uncle Henry. You said that you are going to be away in San Francisco. Right?"

"Yeah," said Henry. "Joey and I are heading there to promote the Ink Machine at a famous museum. We don't need it anymore so we decided to sell it off. A lot of people are excited to see it."

"Why aren't we allowed to come along?" I asked.

"Remember?" said Alice. "You have to stay back at the studio. A few workers will replace Henry during his absence. They will continue on making the next big movie we are making and you promised to help out. Besides, Laura and Elena are going to school tomorrow. We don't want them to miss their first day of school."

Laura grabbed both her hands in excitement. "Oh, hell yeah! I can't wait to go back to school."

"Woo-hoo," said Elena. "Can't wait to go back to a new school."

To my surprise, I noted by the tone of her voice, she didn't seem to be too enthusiastic to go to school. Not going to lie, but I DISGUST school. But she sounded like she hated it for…a personal reason.

Henry didn't realize her sarcastic tone. He checked his watch.

"Ah!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" said Laura.

"I got to go! Joey is calling me. The flight is about to take off."

Laura smiled and hugged Henry along with Grace.

"I love you two," said Henry.

"I love you too," said Laura.

I smiled seeing this, my tail wagging.

Henry let go and walked off. "If Linda returns, tell her that I will call you all. See you later! Have fun, Elena!"

With that, he went off to find his luggage before he could go out.

"I hope he will be OK," said Elena concerned.

"Don't worry," said Boris as Laura cuddled Grace. "He'll be fine. He survived the haunted studio. What can happen to him?"

"Let's pray that Henry would have a safe trip," said Alice drinking her coffee…before spewing it out.

SPEEEEEEEW!

Coffee liquid flew onto one of the shelves leaving brown stains. I immediately burst out in laughter. Alice glared at me.

"Did you put BLEACH in my cup?" snarled Alice. "AGAIN?"

"The best trick in the hat!" I said.

She slapped me in the face, but I still kept laughing. Laura and Boris laughed along as well. Including Grace – who obviously had absolutely no idea of what was going on.

Elena just huffed. "As funny as accidentally stepping on a beehive…"

My laughter slightly stopped. Something didn't seem right with her.

* * *

**Elena's POV**

I sat onto my new bed and looked up at the ceiling. A lot happened today.

Having to suffer a baby puking on me in a plane.

Listening to classical music while driving to Henry's home.

Meeting my cousin after a long time.

Meeting Bendy…

Bendy…

Huh.

I couldn't believe that I just met a real-life demon.

Or a cartoon character for that matter.

I couldn't believe Henry would let a demon stay at his house.

Wasn't that bad? Was it wrong to have Satan living in your OWN house?

I sighed.

I was glad I was away from those bastards back at my old home. It was not like I wanted to be with them. I was happy that I managed to escape from them.

But I didn't trust Bendy.

Sure he looked charming and fine and handsome…

But…he was a demon.

Demons are bad.

How could you trust them?

They are responsible for making people bad.

They cast sin around the world.

They plunge everyone into madness.

Would you trust a person like that?

Even though I felt a bit of hostility towards Bendy, he was kind to me, so I decided to accept his niceness.

Still, it was very rare for a boy to be nice to me…

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Bendy opening the door, singing a ditty about picking up chicks.

Seriously. What's with boys trying to get the girls?

Bendy saw me. "Hey there, young gal! How are ya?"

I turned away. "Tired."

Bendy went up to me. "Aw…what's the matter? Feeling blue?"

Dead inside as usual.

"Nothing. Everything is just fine and peachy."

"…well…you don't seem to be happy at sometimes."

I sighed. I turned over to Bendy.

"Um…" I said. "Can I tell you something?"

"What is it?" he said.

"Well…"

I hesitated. Flashes of my past came over my eyes. I closed them, blocking them out.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

He sounded…concerned. Genuine. Never heard that from a boy for so long.

"It's just that…" I said. "I'm just nervous about going to school."

"Don't worry," he said smiling. "Once the year's over, you will finally be free from all the trivia nonsense!"

"No…it's not that…"

Bendy tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

I opened my mouth, but closed it forcefully. No. I couldn't tell him. It would only make things awkward. I didn't trust him at that moment, so I decided to wait until I find the right time to tell him.

What he wouldn't know wouldn't hurt.

"It's…" I said. "…nothing. I'll…tell you about it sometime later."

I turned to him. "OK. Let's get things straight, DEMON."

I put a finger onto his bow tie. He looked nervous.

"I would have chosen to stay at another place," I explained. "If it would be up to me, I wouldn't want to stay with you. But…since Henry and Laura trust you so much, I'll try to trust you. It's just that…I'm uncomfortable being around guys like you."

Bendy opened his mouth, but I closed his so that he wouldn't ask why.

"ON ONE CONDITION," I said, slightly firm. "If you don't try to hurt me or anyone else, I will stay here. If you do…I will leave. OK?"

Bendy looked pretty surprised. He nodded. There was pain on his face.

"E…Elena," he said. "I'm not what you-"

"Zip it," I said. "I got to rest. Tomorrow, I have to get up REALLY early."

There was silence in the air. Bendy smiled and patted me on the head.

"OK then," he said. "Nighty night!"

I just stood still as I heard him whistled, went to his bed and fell asleep. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Good grief," I thought. "Nearly lost my temper. I'm happy that I wasn't too mean to him."

But I was…he sounded hurt when I called him a demon and told him I would leave if he tried anything funny. I was a demon-hater, but I wasn't a sadist. I don't like getting people hurt and that is one thing I try to avoid.

I closed my eyes, worried about what was going to happen the next day.

"Tomorrow is a new day," I thought as I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

**AN: We will see, Elena. We will.**

**And there we go! The prologue is done! Elena moved in with the Stein household and met Bendy. She is a bit reluctant though.**

**Sorry for those who were offended by Bendy's racist facts. I wanted to write how a small cartoon character from the 1900s would react to seeing another person they aren't familiar with...I mean people who are from different countries.**

_**Elena Rubystone**_** is the main character of the story besides Henry. She is made by _Infinite's Ruby_ and (if this story was made into a movie) would possibly be voiced by _Alicia Keys_. Before, I didn't plan her to be the main character. I once made my own character to be the main character, but the old story felt dry to me. I wanted to make a new story that has a strong main FEMALE character; one who could represent any relatable girls out here. I chose _Infinite's Ruby's_ OC because I think this character would be a potential protagonist. She gave me the details of how the character would look, so I put all the pieces together to make Elena (you could see the character on the story cover. The girl with tan skin and white hair). In this story, I gave her a somewhat shy, sane and level-headed character. She even has small fangs, referring to 'Gadget the Wolf' from _Infinite's Ruby_'s 'The Illusionary Resistance' story.**

_**Laura**** Stein **_**is another character to the story who will play as a leader and (if this story was made into a movie) would possibly be voiced by _Jojo Siwa_. This character is based on 6 people I know. I met 6 girls at work experience once and we became good friends. For this, I decided to make an OC representing them and make this character as Henry's eldest daughter and Elena's cousin. This character has the same name and the same ponytail (sort of) with one of the girls. Laura even have tan skin which reference to one girl who have brown skin. Based on all the 6 girls, Laura is positive, strong-willed and is very friendly. In the old story, she is meant to be a dumb blonde, but I want to make her a confident, peppy girl. To my friends I met during Work Experience at the National Museum of Victoria, you're welcome...and just in case, sorry for bringing this up so unexpectedly. :3**

**I hope you enjoyed this story. This is just the prologue, so the official Chapter 1 will be posted on Sunday (Australian time). New chapters will be added every Sunday (Australian time), so be sure to follow or favorite this story to update it. ****Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

** forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of this chapter: How did you think of Elena who is made by _Infinite's Ruby_? What do you like about this character?**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter! In two days time, I will reveal the new characters made by the authors I listed above!**


	2. 1 - Fools of School

**AN: Even though I just posted the Prologue two days ago, I can't help but noticed how well it's going. It's a shaky start, but it's going well. Thanks to Infinite's Ruby for favoring/following the story and special thanks to my friend Beth for sending a review. **

**Now, this is the REAL FIRST CHAPTER of the story. Sorry if this is a bit to long. I know. When writing this story on Word Document, almost every chapter is about 40 PAGES LONG. Hopefully, you enjoy this. Now, onto the first chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Fools of School**

**Bendy's POV, 2/09 (at 7:30 am)**

Oh, the beauties of sleeping in bed.

When sleeping in bed, you are all in warmth and covered by fluffy blankets. It feels so comfortable and peaceful that makes you not want to get out of bed.

That was how I felt like when sleeping in my own small bed, until…

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

The alarm went off. I snapped out of my daydream and snapped my eyes opened. Just in time to see Elena.

She yelped and jumped up in surprise, hitting the low ceiling above her.

"Oh f***!" she swore.

"Language!" I said.

Elena just rolled her eyes and rubbed the bump on her head. She looked at the clock and realized that it was 7:30 am.

"Elena!" called Laura from outside. "Are you ready yet?"

Elena froze. "Uh…yeah…just give me 3 minutes."

At this, she leaped out from her bed and stripped her pajamas off. She rushed to the closet and grabbed a few clothes. She put on her necklace, silver reflective jacket, belt and jeans. She even grabbed a new pair of silver boots with black soles.

"Nice boots," I said smiling.

Elena didn't hear that. She just grabbed a BUTT-LOAD of textbooks into her school bag and ran out. I followed her where she made a pit stop at the bathroom and brushed her teeth. I just casually walked around her and went up onto the toilet, needing to…

Elena stared at me disturbed.

"Uh…" she said through her brush. "What are you doing?"

"Number 1," I said.

"That's…a bit unusual. It's not a good idea to pee with another person standing next to you. I might see your-"

"Actually, I have an invisible one."

Elena looked a bit creeped out. OK. Not my best move. She turned back to the sink, spat the toothpaste out and washed her mouth. Taking a rubber band out from her pocket, she tied her silky white hair up in a short ponytail.

"Um…" she said. "You know…it's really creepy for you…to look at me this way…"

I was a bit confused. "Is it that weird to stare at someone?"

"Well…you know what, forget it. I have to go."

She ran out so I followed her. We got to the kitchen where Laura was down to the last slice of her toast.

Hmm…a pink scarf, a white blazer, a pink top, black ripped jeans and pink and black sneakers. Good combination, Laura. And oh, since she was a bit near-sighted, she wore black-rimmed glasses, so that she could read properly.

Boris was slurping down porridge, Alice was making pancakes and Linda was feeding Grace with mushy apples.

"Hey there!" said Alice. "Want some pancakes?"

"Not now!" said Elena grabbing a nearby toast and stuffing it into her mouth. "I got to go now!"

"Sorry," said Laura picking up her bag. "We got to go."

"Have a good day at school, sweetie," said Linda kissing Laura on the forehead. She then kissed Elena on the forehead, much to the latter's embarrassment.

"See ya!"

Laura grabbed Elena and the two ran over to the door. I followed them.

"Can I come with you two?" I asked.

"Nah," said Laura. "You hate school!"

"Well, there's a lot of students there, so I think I can put off a show there! Also, I want to see how you two go."

Laura just laughed and ruffled me on the head. "Silly boy. We will be fine. Besides, there isn't going to be an assembly performance today. You need to go to work at the studio, grandpa."

I pouted. "I'm not that old."

"Never mind," said Laura opening the door. "See you after school!"

"Bye, Laura! Bye, Elena!"

Elena didn't respond. She just turned her back and followed Laura. The door shut.

"Oh c'mon," I said slightly disappointed. "And yet, I thought I would be able to make a good musical at the start of the year."

An idea bulb floated over my head.

"Hmm," I thought. "Maybe I can…do my best spy moves to get there."

* * *

**Elena's POV**

I had to catch up with Laura. She was running so fast. I huffed and puffed as my feet hit the pathway. The fact that I was carrying a bag the weight of an elephant didn't help.

I looked around the street. It looked so…clean. The houses were clean and shiny, their white walls nearly had the brightness of the sun. I couldn't believe that the lush green gardens around me were all trimmed neatly. The sky was very blue with a good portion of clouds and the sun.

Almost reminded me of how my old home was…before everything changed.

At one point, Laura jumped up and touched onto a high street sign. She landed and was about to cross the road when she tripped over her untied sneaker laces.

"CONTRA!" she yelled.

THUD!

She landed onto the road. There was an incoming car, but it stopped slowly upon seeing Laura. I came over to her.

"Your shoes are untied," I said matter-of-factly as I helped her get up.

"Uh…" she said sheepishly. "Yeah! That's…some s**t I always forget."

I rolled my eyes and we continued to head to school. We arrived at the huge school. I looked at the building. There was a large red brick four-storey building in the middle with two white brick buildings connected to them on the side. In front of the buildings, there was a large footy ground. And oh, there were OTHER STUDENTS there.

"Dear god," I muttered halting.

Laura noticed my hesitation. "Anything wrong?"

I quickly shook my head. "Nope. Just…one more touch."

I took out a pair of sunglasses with a red trim and placed them over my eyes.

"There we go," I said. "Let's go in."

Laura nodded and the two of us entered the school. Upon opening the doors, it was MADNESS. There were many kids running around in different directions. Some were talking to each other. Some were making a mess by throwing toilet paper everywhere. Some were even kicking vending machines in order to get the desired snack.

I inhaled sharply. Laura just grabbed my hand and pulled me into the wild crowd.

If you ask me, I would say that high school would be the dumbest idea ever invented. You got kids who haven't reached 1 meter tall mixed with gorillas who have to shave twice a day. In this school, you get different types of people.

How would I know? Because I could see many different students walking around the school. I mean, LITERALLY all the students fall into different categories. At this school, you get new students, little kids, jocks, nerds, hard workers, stars, outsiders, clowns, idiots, dumb blondes, artists, drama kings and queens, bullies, slackers, delinquents, lovebirds, gossip girls, show-offs, brainy Asians, bratty Blacks, wannabes, weirdos, the nice people and the worse people.

Of course, let's not forget those who don't have a category and walk around, not giving a damn about anything.

I also noted that most people had similar hair colors as if they were supposed to symbolize the school. This ranged from black, blonde, red, brown, light blue and dark violet. **[1]**

"Oh my gosh!" said Laura squealing. "I miss this place. Everyone is here."

"Really?" I said in disbelief.

"School is a place where the family comes together! Here, you get to meet a lot of different students and play different activities. It's like camping! It will be so much FUN."

I spat bitterly. "'Fun'. It will be fun to be laughed at for who you are for the rest of the semester."

Laura shrugged. "That's because you know how to make people happy. I won't mind. They will notice you if you try to warm them up."

I rolled my eyes. "I rather not get noticed, thank you very much."

Laura gave me a look. "…right…by the way…why are you wearing shades? We are INSIDE."

"Like I said," I said coldly. "I rather not get noticed."

Laura looked pretty worried, but shrugged it off…eventually. "OK then. We still got a lot of time before school starts."

She took me to a nearby room. When she opened the door, I was greeted by a classroom that I had never seen before. There were computer desks everywhere with students using them either for editing photographs or videos, writing articles and playing video games! There were many photos hanging on the walls. To my surprise, there were four pinball machines on the side!

It was…spectacular.

"Whoa…" I said. "What…is this?"

"This here, Rubystone…" said Laura. "…is where all the electronic media lives. This is the computer room. In this room, it holds different clubs; the Video-Game Club, the Photograph Club, the Movie Club and the Literature Club."

"Why are they playing video games there?"

"Because that's how this room is supposed to be! This is not your ordinary school. Many people come here to use their abilities in story-writing, photo-shopping, video-making and game-playing."

I looked around as I stepped into the room. So many things there. As I glanced at the computers, I accidentally bumped into one of the students playing on a computer. It was a brown-haired girl wearing a colorful pattern dress.

"Oh," she said. "You want a turn?"

"N-no thanks," I said quickly. "I'm just looking."

I head over to where the pinball machines were. I looked at them.

"What?" I said out loud. "Those high-scores are over the charts!"

"I know, right?" said Laura smirking.

I saw one boy with blue slicked hair and brown skin playing on one of the machines. He was pressing buttons when it was game over.

"Dang it!" he said. "I nearly beat today's high-score."

I chuckled seeing this. I looked at Laura.

"OK," I said. "I will admit that this club isn't bad. This is probably the club I like."

Laura smiled. "Thank you. Just to note that they are nearly 36 different clubs here. The time when these clubs start is at the beginning of school, lunchtime or after school."

"I can see why."

"Hmm…I got an idea. Why don't you join the Social Game Club?"

I was shocked. "Huh? Why?"

"It's beneficial! You get to play board games and make new friends."

New friends…

Those were two words I currently dislike.

"Uh…" I said. "No thanks."

"How about you give it a try and if you don't like it, you don't have to come back," offered Laura.

I bit my lip. I reluctantly nodded. "OK then. I guess I can try to…"

RING! RING!

Hearing this, everyone stopped what they were doing and left the room.

"That's the bell!" said Laura. "I got to go now. Head to room H19."

"Where are you going to?" I said.

"I got a special meeting. I'm a member of the school council so I have to be there until lunchtime. Besides, I'm a year older than you. See you later!"

She ran out of the room. I sighed and walked out of the room.

"Guess I'm on my own," I said.

After placing my things in my locker, I went to my classroom. I looked at the sign above the door.

H19.

I opened the door to find that all the students were already inside. The teacher was just marking down the role.

"Elena Rubystone…" the teacher said.

"Here," I said.

Eyes peered at me. I felt…watched.

"Oh," the teacher said. "You were a bit late today, but I'll let that slide."

"Me?" I said. "Late? Sorry. I have to get my stuff ready at the lockers, but…time is relative. Maybe you guys are all early."

Crickets.

I mentally slapped myself in the face for saying such a stupid joke.

And then, one boy laughed.

"Sorry," he said. "It was just so quiet."

"Anyway," said the teacher. "Take your seat."

I nodded. I looked around. All the seats were taken. Well, there was one empty seat next to that boy. As I went up to the empty spot, I heard whispers from other people.

"Do we know her before?"

"Why does she have white hair?"

"What a freak."

"She looks a bit like Laura."

Great. I was already the talk of the class. I sat down next to that boy. I took a good look at him. He had light peach skin, dark grey eyes and long green hair combed to the back with large blue streak and one red streak. He was wearing a black jacket with a white spider symbol, a red t-shirt, blue jeans and blue and white sneakers…I meant blue and white Nike Air Jordan 1 Shoes. Obviously.

For some reason, I saw that on the right eye part, it looked like he was wearing…make-up?

Maybe I was just dreaming.

"I like your joke," whispered the green-haired boy.

"What?" I said back.

"It was a good reference to 'Into the Spider Verse'."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, right…"

"Elena," said the teacher. "Can you take off your sunglasses? We are indoors."

"Oh…" I said. "Um…"

I was about to make the excuse that I was blind, but that would make me a laughing stock. I hesitantly took off my glasses and put them in my jacket pocket.

"Good," said the teacher. "Now, I'm going to give you a run-down on what is going to be expected for this year…"

The boy looked at me. "Say. You have nice eyes."

I felt a blush on my cheeks. "Um…eh…thanks?"

It felt so weird for a boy being polite to me again. Yet, his dark grey eyes looked so dreamy…wait. What?

"So…" said the boy. "You're new here, right?"

"Yeah…" I said awkwardly. I didn't want to talk to him. I scooted a bit away from him.

"So you're Elena Rubystone, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm Damian Rocketon, but please call me 'Spider'."

I gave him a look. "Spider?"

"It's because there's another student named 'Damien', except that it has an 'e'. I go by the name 'Spider' to avoid confusion."

I nodded slowly. "OK then…Spider."

Spider smiled. I looked back at the teacher.

Just why was he nice to me?

* * *

**Bendy's POV, 12:30 pm**

At lunchtime, I made the excuse of needing to 'grow some flowers' so they let me go outside. I made my way out of the studio and traveled to where the school was. It wasn't too hard to find it as Laura showed me what it looked like before.

I didn't want to catch attention…yet, so I decided to hide in the air vents. It was dark, cold, cramped and narrow. Kind of stinky.

Good thing I had a small body.

Eventually, as I traveled through the vents, I saw through the hatch door was Elena walking through a hallway. It was quite empty, so it was only her there. For some reason, she was wearing sunglasses.

"There she is," I said to myself.

All of a sudden, the hatch door below me opened wide. I fell and landed onto Elena's head.

"ARGH!" screamed Elena.

I quickly hopped off. "Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

Elena looked at me, shocked. "Bendy?! What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to come over and visit you."

Elena stared at me for a while before sighing and shook her head. "Oh Bendy. Oh sweet, sweet, oblivious Bendy. Laura told you that you can't come over."

"Yeah, but did she tell me WHAT time I'm not allowed to come here?"

Elena bent down. "I don't think you should be here. Get back to the studio."

"C'mon! I know that Laura won't be here for a while – due to some council thing – so do you want to be all alone? Let your old pal – Bendy the Dancing Demon – be your partner."

Her cheeks turned slightly red. "Uh…I'm alright. I prefer being alone."

"Nonsense," I chuckled hopping onto her shoulders. "It's pretty unhealthy to be alone. Remember what happened to the workers of Joey Drew Studios after they reverted back to normal? They have to go to see a therapist. Apparently, they like to be isolated so it took about four people to hold them down from escaping. I'm not letting someone be alone, EVER."

Elena looked at me, her jaw slightly opened. She sighed.

"OK then…" she said.

"So," I said. "Where are you heading to?"

"It's lunchtime already. I'm heading to the cafeteria now."

She went up to a large door and opened it. It revealed to be a large warehouse-like room filled with many tables and seats. And also, A LOT OF PEOPLE. To my surprise, there was an ordering station where anyone could buy a meal they wanted.

"So," I said. "Are you going to buy something?"

"I got my own lunch," said Elena holding up a brown paper bag.

"Oh well. Any plans of where to sit?"

Crickets. "That I don't know…"

I looked around. There were so many people. I noted that on each table, there were kids with similar quirks to the people sitting next to them. It looked like as if it was a huge team meeting.

Something caught the corner of my eye. I looked to see that there was a large table. There were three girls sitting there leaving out a lot of space for other people to sit with them.

One had light peach skin, blonde hair tied in a braid ponytail and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a white shirt tied in the middle, a black skirt and black high heels.

Another had brown skin, dark brown hair tied up in twin low pigtails and brown eyes. She wore a grey blazer, a white collared shirt, a flannel blue skirt, white socks and black shoes.

The third had dark brown skin, red curly hair tied in a bun and green eyes. She was wearing a black vest, a pink collared shirt, a black skirt, pink leggings and white sneakers.

They were wearing make-up and lip gloss.

They caught my interest.

"Ooh!" I said. "How about we sit with them?"

Elena saw where I was looking at…and froze.

"No, no, no," said Elena. "That's a bad idea."

"Let's a go!" I said grabbing Elena's hand.

I smirked. I knew she was nervous, but she needed to learn how to socialize. Even with girls! Besides, maybe I could win some girls at this school. Even though I was tiny compared to Elena, I had the strength to drag her over.

When we got close to the three girls, they had noticed us.

"Oh," said the blonde-haired girl. "Look what the cat dragged in."

Elena gulped. "Um…hi…"

"Well hey there, doll-face. You're the new girl, right? I saw you recently in my classes."

Elena nodded nervously.

The blonde-haired girl chuckled. "Well, we can accept such a good girl like you, right guys?"

"Yeah," said the brown-haired girl.

"Totally totes," said the red-haired girl.

"You can sit with us," said the blonde-haired girl.

Elena hesitated. She – at first – said no thanks, but when she turned around, she saw some boys snickering at her. She looked…worried.

"Just ignore those bastards," said the blonde-haired girl. "At least you have a good brain back in Maths and Science so you're better than them."

Elena looked back. "Um…thanks…"

"Sit down."

Elena sat down next to the three girls. I sat next to Elena. That was when the three girls saw me.

"Oh!" said the blonde-haired girl. "What is this?"

"Well hello there, pretty ladies," I said, standing on the table and bowing down. "This is Bendy the Dancing Demon."

The three girls looked at me with somewhat a mixture of curiosity and disgust. I didn't care.

"You would look better if you are a BIT taller," said the blonde.

"I think he looks fine," said the brown-haired girl.

"Maybe you should go to the Art Club," said the red-haired girl. "The people there would like want to draw YOU."

"Well you introduce yourself," said the blonde. "I guess we can introduce ourselves. My name is Ariel."

"I'm Yvonne," said the brown-haired girl.

"Thea," said the red-haired girl.

"Hi, hi, hi," said Elena. "So…my name is Elena."

"That's a nice name," said Ariel.

Elena shrugged and dug into her lunch. While she ate, I heard what those three girls were talking about. They seemed to act as if they were the princesses of the kingdom. All they talked about was make-up, clothes brand, looking pretty, reputations, hot guys and mostly gossiping about other people. Not too harsh though. Elena – on the other hand – didn't seem to like their conversations that much as she was quiet the whole time.

"What's that?" said Yvonne pointing to somewhere.

Ariel gasped as if she saw something offensive. "Oh…my…rod. What is Cindy even WEARING?"

"Is that supposed to be some kind of trend?" said Thea.

"I wonder why she decided to wear her clothes in THAT way."

"That is kind of weird."

"SUPER weird. I mean what is she THINKING?"

"I bet that if Clyde sees this, he's not going to like."

"TOTALLY not. He'll be like 'I do not like this. Ew, ew, ew.'"

Seeing Ariel mimicking this 'Clyde' person, Yvonne and Thea laughed. Elena looked…disturbed.

"OMG Ariel," said Yvonne. "That is such a good 'Clyde' impression."

"I know, right?" said Ariel proudly.

"Hell yeah!" said Thea.

"Language!" I said firmly.

The three girls turned to Elena. The latter – who wasn't listening – looked at them in somewhat confusion.

"Uh…" she said awkwardly. "I…I know too…right?"

The three girls gave her looks and rolled their eyes. Elena sighed.

"Gossip girls are the worse," she muttered.

At this, the three girls waved to someone. Elena and I looked up to see who it was. It was a boy with green, blue and red hair.

"That's a strange haircut," I said. "I never knew people can dye their hair." **[2]**

"Oh c'mon," said Ariel acting as if it was obvious. "ANYONE can dye their hair. Have you ever seen a person with rainbow hair before?"

My answer?

"Not back in my time. But…yet. Elena looks like someone's old grandma who have a long suntan."

"Hey," said Elena annoyed. "Leave my white hair alone. I think it's cool."

That was when the boy called out Elena's name nearly catching everyone's attention. Elena looked up and the boy winked.

She blushed.

The three girls gave Elena smirks.

"Oh," said Ariel teasingly. "I see what this is."

Elena looked away. "I…I don't know what you are talking about."

"You like Spider, don't you?"

Elena face turned red as a beetroot. "WHAT?! N-no! It's not like I like boys or anything!"

"Wait," I said. "That boy's name is Spider?"

"It's actually Damian," corrected Thea. "Except that we all called him Spider."

"Yeah," said Yvonne. "Spider is like one of the most popular boys of the school."

"What?" Elena and I said in unison.

"That famous?" said Elena.

"Well he is known to be one of the greatest athletics of the school, a fine comic drawer and a good performer in any 1900 jazz," explained Ariel. "But, he isn't the brightest of the students…I see that he has the hots for you, Elena."

Elena shook her head. "You're just being silly."

"Well it seems that you fell in love on the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL."

"No! Why should I fall in love with a BOYS? Boys are stupid and creeps. They are always in love with money and sex and stalking on girls."

"I'm RIGHT here," I said.

Elena gave me a look. "That's because you are paired up with Alice."

"HEY!" I said embarrassed.

"Actually," pointed out Thea. "That's kind of true."

I looked down in shame.

"Anyway," said Ariel. "You might be right, but not everyone is how you think they are. Maybe you should-"

"Ask him out?" said Elena. "Yeah. As if that will happen. Boys should say that. Not girls."

"Well I think I ship you two," said Yvonne. "You should be friends with Spider."

A smirk appeared on my face. I leaped from my seat. "Let's go talk with him!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Ariel, grabbing me by the tail. "Don't even think of doing that. We DON'T want to talk with him yet! We WANT him to like us first."

"Oh yeah," I said before becoming dumbfounded. "Wait, what?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Being so perfect will get the boys."

"What?" said Ariel. "Oh, no, no, no. That's not what I meant. What I mean is see what Spider likes about you, get to know him a little and then, you will be a couple! This is optional, but you should try on make-up so that he will fall in love with you and won't think that you are a slut."

Suddenly, Elena's face turned pale as a ghost. Her eyes widened and she let out a short gasp. She looked like she couldn't breathe. She looked…traumatized.

My smile dropped. Even the three girls looked concerned.

"Uh…Elena?" I said.

She didn't respond.

I waved my hand in front of her.

"Hello?"

She quickly snapped out. She quickly shook her head and groaned in…pain.

Ariel tilted her head. "Are you-?"

"I'm OK!" blurted Elena. "I'm fine! See?!"

"Well…you don't seem fine. You froze for a moment. Care to tell me what was going on?"

"It's nothing, OK?! If you REALLY think Spider would be interested in ME, then you are so crazy."

"Me interested in what?" said a voice out of nowhere.

Elena yelped and jumped from her chair. It was Spider.

"W-what?!" said Elena, turning around. "It's nothing! You didn't hear anything!"

She chuckled nervously while the three girls rolled their eyes. I nearly laughed. Spider just smiled.

"OK then," he said. "Is it OK if me and my dudes sit here?"

"Why sure!" said Ariel.

Spider sat down next to me. Elena placed her head on the table. I noticed two other people coming up to sit next to Spider.

One was a boy with light peach skin, white wavy hair that fell on his shoulders and purple eyes. He wore a black and purple beanie, a purple hoodie with a white octopus symbol, black pants and purple shoes. He had noticeable sharp canines that didn't protrude through his lips.

The other one was a girl with light peach skin, blonde hair styled in a bob haircut and blue eyes. She was wearing a sky blue waist blouse with short sleeves, white leggings and black shoes.

"Oh," said the girl in a soft Australian accent, looking at Elena. "Is this the new girl you're talking about?"

"Right," said Spider. "Elena. I want you to meet my friends."

He pointed to the boy wearing the beanie. "This is my best friend, Jace Octoson."

"What's up, dude?" said Jace smirking in a somewhat edgy Japanese-esque voice.

"And this is his girlfriend, Lucy Bluebell," said Spider pointing to the girl wearing the blue dress.

Lucy shook Elena's hand. "It's very nice to meet you."

Elena smiled nervously.

Spider, Jace and Lucy saw me.

"Huh?" said Spider. "Mickey Mouse?"

"Who's Mickey?" I said. "My name's Bendy."

I reached out my hand to shake his. He returned the gesture.

"Demon?" said Lucy. "That's a bit scary."

"You're telling me," grunted Elena.

"Don't worry," I said patting Lucy on the head. "I don't bite."

Jace snorted. "Really? Well a runt like you THIS SIZE doesn't have a mouth to bite someone's brain, dude."

I was taken aback by this. "At least I'm older than you all are, preppies."

"We are all 15," pointed out Ariel.

"And I'm 16 years old," said Jace.

Lucy nudged him. "Hey, sweetie. Elena has white hair like you! It's a good thing that at least you are not the only one with white hair."

Elena looked away hearing this. Jace looked a bit perplexed, but just quickly brushed it off with a disinterested face.

"Uh…yeah," he said. "I don't care."

I sat back on my seat. While the rest were talking to each other, I took a look at Elena. She was just gazing out in the distance with a thoughtful look.

"Hey, Elena," I said.

"Huh?" she said.

"Are you OK?"

"…I'm…I'm fine…"

"Well…you seemed to freak out at one point. What was that about?"

Elena bit her lip. "It's…it's nothing."

"Eleny!" said Lucy.

Elena looked up annoyed. "Don't call me that."

"Sorry," said Lucy innocently. "Why do you wear sunglasses?"

"Uh…for…just a fashion thing?"

Both Lucy and Jace nodded.

"I see," said Jace.

At this, Spider placed his hand on Elena's shoulder.

"Hey," said Spider.

"Um…hey?" said Elena.

Spider slightly chuckled. "I'm just kidding ya, dude."

Elena sighed, looking away. I couldn't help, but feel worried about her.

"You don't talk that much," said Spider.

"Isn't that usual for anyone?" said Elena.

"Um…not really for me. The people I met are always social dudes. I understand if you are shy."

Elena nodded. She smiled a bit.

"Hey!" said Spider. "You have good fangs as well? This is the first time I've ever seen you smile before."

"W…what?" said Elena. "I'm not smiling."

"Well you are," I said matter-of-factly.

"You should smile more often," said Spider. "It looks good on you."

Elena took this by surprise. Her cheeks turned red.

"I ship it," I whispered under my breath.

"But is there anything troubling you?" asked Spider.

Elena had a faraway look in her eyes. "…well…"

"Huh?" said Ariel looking at something. "What's going on there?"

We all looked at where she was pointing at. On the other side of the room, we saw a gang of buff and fat men surrounding a boy who seemed to be the same age as Elena. He looked like he is an Asian. He had light peach skin, yellow eyes and long black hair with a turquoise streak combed to the left along with shaved sideburns. He was wearing a black cap, a midnight blue jacket, a white shirt with lime and black stripes, black track pants and midnight blue sneakers with blue accents. He looked afraid and clutched his notebooks to his chest.

The leader of the gang – a boy with greasy brown messy hair, light peach skin, purple eyes and wore a black vest, beige shorts and red runners – came up to him.

"Do you think I look STUPID?" said the fat boy gruffly. "You PROMISED me to finish my assignment during the summer, but now it's already due and I'm going to get an 'F' because of you."

"Me?!" exclaimed the black-haired boy in a thick Australian accent, revealing his sharp canines. "I DIDN'T promise to do your own BLOODY PITY work. You FORCED me to do it! Hell, the reason why I didn't help you was because my peers told me to stay clear from you. If it would be anyone's fault for you to get a lousy score, it would be you!"

Enraged, the bully lifted the black-haired boy by the jacket collar.

"Maybe I can beat the CRAP out of you to get a better mark!" roared the bully.

"How about you lick my bloody arse?" the black-haired boy snarled.

The fat boy's reply was to throw the black-haired boy to the wall. The latter cried out in pain and slumped onto the ground.

"I'll deal with you later," said the fat boy.

The bullies turned to leave. However, the cap-wearing boy was ticked off.

"Do you have to be mean to EVERYONE?!" he yelled.

The bully leader just spat at him. "The joke's on you. Go back to your own stinking country."

His lackeys laughed along with him as they walked off. The black-haired boy groaned in disgust and kicked his notebooks on the floor in frustration.

I was shocked seeing this. Why were those bullies hurting him? Why didn't anyone help?

That was when another boy – who had tan skin, golden hair tied into a short ponytail, gold eyes and wore a golden special forces beret, a black and gold jacket, a black shirt, black finger-less gloves, black ripped jeans and golden sneakers with black accents – came up to him.

F.Y.I. When I said gold, I didn't mean the dark metallic gold. I meant the orange-yellow gold color. Go figures.

"Are you OK?" said the gold-haired boy as he helped the black-haired boy to pick up his notebooks.

"Well I'm great, thank you very much," said the black-haired boy sarcastically.

Back at my table, we were pretty upset of what we saw back there.

"Am I the only one seeing this?" said Thea.

"By gosh!" said Ariel. "Didn't those jerks know who they are dealing with?"

"An Asian?" I said.

They glared at me…except for Lucy and Spider.

"No," said Yvonne, rolling her eyes. "That's Clyde. Another popular boy of the school."

"What?" Elena and I said again.

"He is known to be a good story writer and a cartoon drawer," explained Spider. "He doesn't join in conversations that much and he likes to be alone. I guess that is why he tries to avoid people."

I stared back at the scene where Clyde – the one wearing the black cap – picked up his stuff and walked off, followed by that golden-haired boy. I couldn't believe what happened. I got to say, I was NEVER bullied before, but at that moment, I saw what was like to be bullied.

"That poor kid," said Lucy. "He doesn't deserve to be treated like that."

"Many people are all in the same boat," said Jace. "Like how those punks cause me to lose a bet on jackpot."

"Wait," said Elena. "You GAMBLE?!"

"Not really. I just make up a fake profile so I can play those casino games."

I wasn't listening. I watched those fat boys as they walked over to a table. When they seated down, they started to talk with each other, laughing mockingly. I felt really angry seeing this. Nobody stepped up for Clyde and there wasn't a teacher in sight.

If anyone would be able to hunt down bullies, it would be me.

I jumped off my seat and marched off.

"Little buddy?" said Spider. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to teach those jerks a lesson or two," I said rubbing my head letting out a snicker.

Oh. This was going to be good!

Within moments, I stepped out from the kitchen wearing a waiter costume. It was a bit too big, but it suited me. I looked amazing in it. I even put a mustache on my face to hide my identity. I carried a tray filled with hot dogs and fizzy drink bottles. With the most cheesiest smile I could ever make, I casually strolled by to the bullies. **[3]**

"Hello sir!" I said cheerfully.

The bully leader saw me. He gave me a hostile look. "What do you want, little runt?"

"I just came here to see what YOU want."

I pointed to the hot dogs on my tray.

"How many of these BUMPS do you want?" I asked.

The fat boy raised an eyebrow. "I would just take two."

"OK."

At this, I dropped the tray and grabbed the fizzy drink bottles.

"ONE!" I said quickly hitting him on the head with one bottle swiftly and then used the other bottle. "TWO!"

The bully stumbled, shocked. Birds could be seen flying around his head. He was dizzy and bruised until he quickly saw what happened.

"HEY!" he growled. "What was that-?"

"And also," I said. "Here is your change!"

I slapped him on the face with the bottle. In fact, I slapped him SO HARD causing the bottle to break. Orange liquid splashed all over him, drenching him in a sticky sweet drink. The people who were watching this burst out in laughter.

I grinned and caught a glimpse of Elena and the others. Spider and Jace were clapping. Ariel, Yvonne and Thea gave me the thumbs-up. Elena and Lucy – on the other hand – looked worried.

I could see why.

"**You f***ing little son of a b***h,**" snarled the bully.

"Language there, FATTY!" I said out loud to get everyone's attention.

The crowd was in uproar. The bully's face turned red in anger.

"THAT'S IT!" he yelled. "COME HERE, YOU PUNK!"

He tried to grab me, but I quickly ran off. I laughed as I heard him landed face-first on the ground with an 'oof'.

"Get him, boys!" yelled the fat boy.

That was when the bullies chased after me. I was their prey. But this prey was invincible. I ran like the wind, jumping over the tables.

"Excuse me! Sorry! Out of the way!" I called as I tried not to step on people's food while I leapt from table to table.

Behind me, the bullies were chasing after me pushing the tables aside, recklessly hurting those people. OK. That wasn't part of the plan, but I wasn't going to let those jerks get away with it.

I quickly took cover behind one of the flipped tables. I grabbed two nearby sauce bottles and peeped up to see the bullies coming after me like rhinos on a stampede.

"Have you ever know what is like to run on the battlefield of WW2?" I mocked.

At this, I squeezed the bottles. The red right one fired out ketchup while the yellow left one fired mustard. They splattered the bullies. Some of them were shot down, collapsing on the floor like dead flies. Some got some in their eyes and started to scream in pain.

I laughed. I saw the bully leader charging towards me like a bull. The bottles were out of sauce.

"Want to see something great?" I asked.

I pulled out the other fizzy drink bottle I kept.

"SAY HELLO TO MAH LITTLE FRIEND!" I yelled.

I shook the bottle and opened up the cap. The fizzy drink bubbled up and spewed out from the nozzle at a rapid speed. It hit the bully leader, startling him. As his face was shot by cola, he failed to notice that the firing drink was leaving a huge brown puddle around him. He tried to move, but ended up slipping and falling.

Everyone cheered at my heroics. I saw Elena coming up closer from the crowd.

"See Elena?" I said ripping off my costume. "There will ALWAYS be a good performance today!"

"You haven't won yet, bastard…" growled the bully.

I looked to see the bullies getting up. I saw that the bully leader took out a POCKET KNIFE menacingly.

"I swear I will chop off your tail and make you wear it like a scarf."

I gulped. If there was one thing I hated more than anything else in the world was sharp weapons. Including axes. Also knives. However, I still put on my confident face.

"Uh…" said one boy from the crowd. "Isn't it illegal to use a knife without an adult guid-?"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!" roared the bully leader.

"Fine then," I said. "Just you and me."

"IT'S ON, ASSHOLE!"

"Language!"

He let out a cry of rage and ran to me. He tried to stab me on the chest, but I quickly slid under him with my knees. Upon getting under him, I jumped onto his back and landed onto his shoulders. I pulled his hair with all my strength.

"OW!" he yelled as he swayed around trying to get me off. "Let go off me, you demon freak!"

"MAKE me," I said.

His hand nearly grabbed me, but I did a flip and grabbed his nose. I pulled myself up to kick him in the face. Even though it wasn't hard enough to knock him out (I have small feet, people), it did some damage.

"I'll crush you, ant!" snarled the bully.

He tried to attack me, but I was quick and agile. I managed to avoid his attacks, but I messed up at one part. He managed to grab my bow tie and slammed me to the ground. He held the knife to my invisible throat.

"You…" I said nervously. "You won't dare."

"Oh," said the bully dangerously. "Do you think I will care?"

Silence filled the entire room as tension rose. Before the bully could do the final blow, Elena quickly kicked the bully in the face. The latter screamed in pain. Taking her chance, she quickly picked me up.

"Elena," I said. "I-"

"Shut up," she said.

I stayed quiet as she placed me behind her. I had never heard her say that in this tone before. The bully got up and saw the white-haired girl.

"Get out of my sight, girl," said the bully.

"I'm sorry," said Elena. "My friend here is a bit wild…so just leave him alone"

"This is none of your business, so step out of the way now. I got to teach him some lessons."

"By treating people horribly?!" yelled Elena.

I was quite surprised of how angry Elena was. I guessed that the shy demeanour had faded away. The bully just rolled his eyes. He came up to her.

"Why would I need to listen to someone so UGLY like YOU?!" he said slapping Elena's sunglasses off. "So why don't you just BACK OFF?!"

When he said those last two words, he pushed Elena. She would have fallen to the ground if I hadn't grabbed her.

The bully tutted. "Huh! Your mama is SO FAT that she couldn't even get up without someone's help! Maybe you are fat as well, b****!"

"Language!" I said.

I glanced at Elena. Her face turned pale again. Her eyes widened. She looked…upset. That was when her eye twitched.

"Shut up," she said.

"What?"

Elena slowly got up, trembling in anger. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, **SHUT UP!**"

At this, she tackled the bully to the ground. She then proceeded to punch him in the face while she kept yelling 'shut up'. Everyone watched in horror. I was in shock as well. Even though I did fought that bully, I wouldn't try to beat someone up in to a pulp.

"STOP!" yelled Ariel restraining Elena from her assault.

"Let me go!" said Elena.

"You stop this right now, lady! It's not worth it and if you beat him up, you are no better!"

Elena stopped struggling to break free and looked around at the crowd in frightened confusion. She looked at the horrified and angry faces of the crowd. I saw Lucy cowering behind Jace who was glaring at Elena.

"At least you managed to beat that jerk up!" said Spider smiling unlike the rest of the students.

I saw Clyde in the crowd. He face palmed. The bully leader got up.

"Just you wait," he said grabbing his knife. "I swear that I will cut you up like teriyaki slices-"

"OI!" yelled a familiar voice.

Everyone gasped as Laura came into the scene. Behind her were two other students wearing matching white blazers. One was a male with light peach skin, spiky black hair with brown streaks and red eyes. The other was a female with brown skin, amber eyes and black hair.

"Elena…" said Laura crossing her arms. "…Diesel…Bendy?"

"Hi," I said waving timidly. "Sorry. I just want to come to visit you."

Laura sighed. "Don't worry about it. I'm happy that you're here. What I'm worried about is what was going on here."

Diesel – who must be the bully leader – opened his mouth to speak.

"Nuh-uh," said Laura. "First thing first. I'm asking the witness what was going on."

She pointed to the gold-haired boy who helped Clyde before. "Fritz Smith. What happened here?"

Fritz gave Diesel a glare. "Well Diesel douchebag is an unreasonable bully to those two…obviously."

"Really?" sneered Diesel. "Technically, I WASN'T bullying her. I was just saying how ugly she looks."

Laura's eyes narrowed. "Enough. We saw the ENTIRE THING. Do we have to do this again? I thought that on the last week of school before summer starts, there will be NO MORE BULLY INCIDENTS. But I was wrong…because of you. Shame on you."

She turned to the girls beside her. "Flynn. Celine. Take Diesel and his gang to the principal's office. Flynn, tell the principal what happened. Celine, keep an eye on them until the principal calls them. Elena, I need to talk with you. Diesel, I will discuss this with you another time. So get rid of that knife and immediately go straight to the principal. Do I make myself clear?"

Diesel grumbled and got up with his lackeys following him.

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled Diesel. "OK, class president. I hear you, don't keep on screaming at me."

The two students wearing the white blazers took them out of the cafeteria. Before he closed the door, Diesel glared at me.

"This is far from over, runt," he threatened. "You hear me? Hmph!"

He slammed the door. Everything fell silent except for whispers from the crowd.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you," said Laura to everyone. "As a member of the school council, my top priority is to make this school a good place. If we want to do that, we must learn how to act nicely. If anyone breaks the rules again, we will have to put down some heavy consequences. You may all go back to what you are doing."

Hearing this, everyone settled down and returned back to their friend groups. They sat down on the tables, some of them putting them back to normal.

"Wow!" I said coming up to Laura. "That was pretty amazing. No wonder why you are one of the most popular girls in school."

Laura sighed. "It's the only way I can get people to coordinate. Elena. Are you…?"

She trailed off upon seeing that Elena was missing. I heard another slam from the door. Ariel came up to us.

"She probably went to the bathroom," said Ariel. "That's where most girls go when they break down. Want me to check on her?"

"No," said Laura adjusting her glasses. "Let me do it. I'm her cousin."

She walked off. I said goodbye to Ariel before following Laura. Before I went out, I saw the concerned face from Spider from far away.

Sighing, I closed the door.

* * *

**Elena's POV**

I wandered through the hallways, holding back tears. I was very upset about what happened.

I didn't really mean to. I was just so angry. Even though Diesel got what he deserved, I wasn't a monster. I just hated being insulted and I couldn't ignore those words even if it would be just one word. It was my trigger button. I remembered seeing all the fear in everyone's face. Except for Spider.

Why did he seemed to enjoy it? Did he knew how wrong it was?

"Elena?" called Laura.

I looked behind to see her coming up to me along with Bendy. I turned away.

"Go away," I said.

"Elena," said Laura as she got close. "Take off those shades."

I ignored her. "Look…I'm…I'm sorry."

"I know. It's just that…you were a bit hard there."

"Yeah…I know."

"Is there anything wrong?"

I hesitated. "…n…nothing's wrong."

"Listen," said Bendy. "We understand if you are upset."

I turned around. "Upset?! I'm fine! I'm perfectly fine! I'm perfectly fine! Like always!"

"Elena," said Laura. "It's OK to be upset. You don't have to hide your eyes behind your shades. If you keep your feelings bottled, then you would lose yourself."

"Keep my feelings? Oh. So that's what it's all about. Huh? Why should you open up your emotions when it would make you weak?"

Laura and Bendy looked shocked.

"Calm down, Elena," said Laura. "I know. It was your first mistake here. But don't worry. It will blow over."

"Oh really? Blow over? Everyone knows what I did."

Bendy shook his head. "I think they will put that aside."

"Yeah," said Laura. "You should move on. You still got a lot of things to do for this year. You will be good and everyone will accept you. OK?"

I stayed silent. I wasn't sure how to react. Maybe she was right. Maybe I shouldn't keep worrying about that incident. It already happened.

Just like my past.

"OK…" I said.

"Well, well," said a weird edgy voice. "Why are there two pretty ladies doing out here?"

We looked behind us to see a boy who looked like our age. He had light peach skin, mint green eyes and short brown curly hair. He wore a golden chain necklace, a purple collared shirt, a black leather jacket, black fingerless gloves, black jeans and black converse shoes.

"I'm wondering if you can…come to my house sometimes," he said mischievously as he walked towards us.

"Uh…" I said. "Are we supposed to know you?"

"How about 'are WE supposed to know about that little demon with you?'" said another voice in a British accent.

I looked on my left was another boy who looked like he was a year older than me. He had light peach skin, short black hair with red streaks combed slightly upwards and green eyes. He was wearing a red shirt, a black leather vest, bandages wrapped around his arms along with one tied around his left leg, dark blue jeans and red converse shoes.

"If you ask me, this demon looks a bit suspicious," said that boy coldly, slightly exposing his sharp canines.

"Oh," said Bendy, holding onto his tail nervously. "I…it's alright. I won't harm anyone."

"So we are allowed to have sympathy for the devil, huh?" said another voice.

I looked on my right to see a girl coming up. She had dark brown skin, long spiky neon purple hair that was combed to the right and shaved on the left, and grey eyes. She wore 5 golden piercings on her left ear, a grey hoodie with a purple scribble on it (unseen), a black leather jacket, black ripped jeans and black Timberland boots.

"Just make sure you don't mess with us, OK?" said the girl in a somewhat country accent.

We were surrounded by those three. I was getting uncomfortable. I started to step back when I heard a door opened behind me. I turned around to see a boy coming out from that classroom. He looked like a year older than me. He had dark brown skin, black hair styled in a patty cut with some scar lines on the sides and gold eyes. He wore a gold shirt, a black leather jacket, a leather belt with a golden buckle, black ripped jeans and black boots with golden accents.

"Well…well…well…" he said crossing his arms. "While the black cats are away…the new mice come to play."

I cowered behind Laura. I didn't knew who those four were, but they looked…intimidating. They were all wearing black leather jackets that were nearly zipped to the throat. They looked polished, dark and gritty. They resembled a bikie group.

"So…" said the dark-skinned boy pointing to me. "You're…Elena Rubystone, right?"

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Well you were in my class," said the girl, grinning. I could see some of her sharp canines on her teeth. "You are different to the other girls. I never seen a girl who doesn't wear a skirt or pink or make-up or high heels or stupid earrings other than me. Now, I see that you are like me."

I smiled a bit in somewhat gratitude.

"Oh," said Laura. "Draco. My man."

She patted the dark-skinned boy on the back.

"How was summer, pinkie?" he said.

"It was well. Can you introduce yourself AND your gang to our new student?"

"Sure thing."

"Who are you?" said Bendy.

"I'm Draco Midcycle," said the dark-skinned boy. "I'm the strategic leader who carries out a plan for our duties."

He pointed to the boy with the curly haired-boy. "This is Steven Johansson, but we call him 'Sven'. He's the clean-cut sniper of our team."

Sven winked me. I was kind of flustered.

Draco gestured to the vest-wearing boy. "Damien Wolfbane, our brains and the person who makes our weapons."

"You might know another 'Damian' around here, right?" said Damien.

"You mean 'Spider'?" I said.

"Yep."

Draco pointed to the dark-skinned girl. "And this is the Alissa Belladonna, our spy who checks on any incidents happening."

Alissa waved at me timidly. I waved back.

"There's a fifth member, but he doesn't go to school anymore and…he can be rough. We are called the 'Black Skulls'."

"Ooh!" said Bendy grinning. "I get why. Because you're the leader."

Draco looked embarrassed. "What? No. Let's not be racist now. We are just called that because…we are tough…strong and…"

"One of the best groups of the school," said Laura finishing his sentence.

"So…what do you do for the school?" I asked.

Draco shrugged. "We help out for the school council, but we are just like the protectors of the town. We help out a lot of people and we do our best to make a good example of ourselves."

"Even though you wear black leather and brood a lot?" I asked sarcastically.

Damien laughed in somewhat an aloof way. "Do you think we are always this s**t?"

"No," I said. "I was-"

"Let's see who is also s**t," said Damien bluntly. "You – Miss Elena – nearly killed a person today."

I froze. My face went pale again. My eyes widened up. The memory of me beating up that jerk flooded my mind. I quickly snapped out from remembering that.

"I…I didn't mean to," I said nervously. "I…I was just-"

"Angry?" said Alissa as she, Damien and Sven came up. "Yeah. That's a boner."

"Yep," said Sven smirking. "Even for a newbie like you, you're pathetic."

Damien gave him a hard nudge to shut him up.

I looked away in shame.

"I…I'm sorry…" I said. "I…I didn't mean to…"

Draco tutted. "Really? Here's the thing, kid. When you're going through life, you have to learn how to balance your emotions in any kind of situations. I like what you did out there – how you protected Bendy and shut the hell up from Diesel – but it was too much."

I nodded. "I know."

Draco came near me. "But, I REALLY want to know why you decided to fight back. I know that everyone hates being insulted, but is there a…another reason?"

I was taken aback hearing this question. I just blurted out, "Um…it's…just…nothing."

"But you got triggered back then," pointed out Sven. "What made you do that?"

I was about to speak, but hesitated. I…I couldn't say it. There was no way I was going to tell them about my past. What if they wouldn't understand? It would make me look weak and pathetic.

"Just say that it's nothing," the voice in my head told me. "What they don't know won't hurt."

I sighed. "Like I said…nothing."

An uneasy frown appeared on Draco's face. He was about to open his mouth when I gently closed it.

"Just forget it," I said walking off. "Give me some time alone."

I walked away from the group, showing my back. Again, I wasn't in the mood to talk.

As I turned around the corner, I heard them talking.

"I think your question was too deep," said Alissa. "You should probably ask her when we get to know her more."

"Well," sighed Draco. "At least I tried."

I heard Laura and Bendy running towards me. I halted.

"What?" I said.

Bendy came up to me. "I…got to go know. It's almost time for me to head back to the studio."

I nodded. "OK then."

"See ya later!"

Laura and I watched as the cartoon demon ran off through the hallways and made his way out of the entrance.

"Welp," said Laura. "He did one hell of a performance!"

I nodded numbly.

"Still," said Laura turning to me. "Are you alright?"

"I told you," I said. "I'm fine."

Laura shook her head. "Someday, your shades will be broken."

"Why should they?" I said.

"I think you're…hiding something…from me. Elena, I'm your cousin. You're my new sister now. I want to help you so much. But…it seems that you can't help yourself. I don't know much about your family or your childhood, but…do you have to hide everything?"

There was a pained expression on her face. I stared at her, my face unreadable due to my sunglasses. I just turned away.

"Why would I reveal secrets…?" I said. "…when it makes me vulnerable?"

I walked off, leaving Laura in her spot.

The day seemed to drag on. I couldn't concentrate in class as my mind was drifting off. I heard some kids talking about me, mostly about my first fight in the cafeteria. I was the talk of the class. However, they were…scared of me. Worried of me. Concerned. Still, I hated being judged by others.

I was lucky that I didn't get an after-school detention. I took my bag and was about to go home. As I walked by, I noticed a few people in a classroom together.

Laura was with a few other kids playing several board games. I guessed that was the Social Games Club. When Laura saw me, she waved at me, gesturing me to come over.

I was about to…but I just turned and walked away.

I couldn't bring myself to play with them.

I walked home by myself. Walking home from school was always the same experience to me. It was the feeling of being alone and miserable every time you came back from a bad day. The noises of the streets turned quiet on my deaf ears. My surroundings blurred out from my vision. I wasn't blind, but I was just so numb that everything turned…dull.

I didn't tell Linda, Boris or Alice about my problems. As if they would understand. I just finished my homework and climbed into my bed. I felt so worthless having to make that stupid mistake back there. I tried to forget it, but I only remembered back to all the bad times.

Pathetic.

That was what I was. Unable to stand up for myself to control my own feelings. Unable to open up. Unable to stay strong.

"It's like I wish the world wasn't like that," I said to myself as I curled into the blankets in depression.

* * *

**Third Person's POV, San Francisco (at 5:30 pm)**

Henry ran through the busy streets of San Francisco. He had to get to the museum to promote the Ink Machine. Just a few hours ago, they transported the machine to the city and placed it in one of the museum's rooms. They had to polish and add the final details to the machine. Henry went back to the hotel where he was staying at for a rest. Since he didn't check the time, he was late to the special promotion. It would also be a special ceremony as there would be other new artificial at the museum.

As he recklessly ran through the car-infested roads, he arrived at the front of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. There, he found Joey Drew. The elderly man with grey hair, wrinkled skin and blue eyes looked up from his wheelchair.

"There you are," said Joey. "I was wondering where you went."

"Sorry, I'm late," said Henry. "The time here is a bit of a b…"

Henry noticed that it was only Joey by himself.

"Where are the others?" asked Henry.

"They are already piled up in the museum," explained Joey. "I decided to come out here to check on you."

Henry smiled. "Thanks, pal."

At this, Henry pushed the wheelchair, helping Joey head to the front doors.

"Say," said Joey. "What you are wearing is a bit…unusual."

He wasn't lying. Henry was wearing a white collared shirt, a black belt with a gold buckle, dark brown trousers and black shoes. He even wore a black long trench coat making him look like a detective instead of a businessman.

Henry chuckled. "I decided to have a change for today."

The two entered the museum. They showed their VIP passes at the entrance booth and headed to where the machine would be in. They got to the room with the sign 'Transportation and Machinery'. As they entered, they noticed that the room was gigantic. There were several machines on display. Some of them were covered in blankets as they were the new ones. Others were old machines that had a shine. The walls were filled with blueprints and articles of the machines.

They found a large space where the machine laid. It was on a white platform surrounded by red velvet ropes. It was fully covered by a white sheet as it would be revealed to the public to see. Henry and Joey made their way up to the front of the machine where they were met by a news report team who were broadcasting the scene live.

"I can't believe we made it this far," said Henry looking at the machine that was ready to be shown.

"I'm going to miss it," said Joey sadly.

"You know that we don't need it anymore. We got Bendy, Alice, Boris and the Butcher Gang. All our cartoon characters."

"…but…what if they…disappear in an accident…can we use the machine to make them again?"

Henry sighed and shook his head. "Oh, my dear Joey. We can't replace those we loved and lost. That's not how it works. If we make new ones, they won't know us very well. Besides, I'm worried that…you might go crazy with the machine again."

Joey laughed at this. Henry was offended.

"I didn't say anything funny," said Henry annoyed.

"You think I was CRAZY?" said Joey chuckling. "I was trying to set things right!"

"You went overboard. It nearly killed everyone. Remember? Bendy told me that you HURT him. Then, you yelled at your own employees. You tried to activate the machine too many times. The ink flooded the entire studio. I had to go through that hell hole as I wanted to escape, but I have to avoid many monsters along the way including one beast that looks like Bendy…which was you. Are you willing to risk EVERYTHING THAT YOU LOVE AND CARE to gain power?"

This caught Joey by surprise. His expression simmered down to a sorrowful one. "…yeah…sorry…still have this black magic inside me. I…I just feel worthless. I fear that our business may go down because we can't handle everything."

Henry sighed. "You don't need to carry the whole world in your hands, Joey. You already got enough people who love and admire you and that's enough. Trust me. I got a family back home. Even though it's not the size of an audience, they mean so much to me and I will never give up on them. So please…remember that we will still work together."

Joey smiled. "You're right, Henry. Always right."

"Not really," admitted Henry.

"…one question though. Do you think that…someone will try to use the machine?"

Henry shook his head. "Impossible. It is deactivated for a month already. It's dead so it has no use."

"Yeah, but what if someone finds a way to start it up? What if they misuse it?"

Henry thought on that question. He knew that Joey had a point. When someone used the machine, it was their responsibility to take good care of it. If they used it too much, it would malfunctioned and caused Ink-Armageddon again. Nobody would like that. This worried him as he didn't want to go through that crap again. He remembered going through the dark and lonely hallways with Bendy. It was cold and creepy with ink dripping from the ceiling. Ink monsters roamed the place and kill anything in sight. Despite thinking of that experience, Henry just put on a confident face.

"Well," he said. "Whoever does so…I'm going to stop them."

"PLACES, EVERYONE!" called a news director. "PLACES!"

At this, a large crowd surrounded them. Henry spotted many of his workers coming along to support him and Joey. This included Allison Pendle, Thomas J. Connor, Wally Franks and Shawn Flynn. Excluding Wally and Shawn, Allison and Thomas were some of the survivors of the Ink Machine incident. They were turned into humanoid cartoon characters who helped Henry and Bendy stop the Ink Demon. Ever since, they were happily married and continued to work for the Joey Drew Studios along with Shawn – who got fired before – and Wally – who returned from Florida. **[4]**

"Hey guys," said Henry.

"Hey there, Henry," said Allison.

"Good to see you too," said Wally.

"Why are you wearing a long coat?" said Thomas raising an eyebrow.

Henry shrugged. "I thought it would look good on me."

"Well you look like a superhero!" said Shawn.

"OK!" called the news director. "We are live in 3, 2, 1, GO!"

The video cameras turned on and the boom mics slightly dropped in. A news reporter came in holding a mic. Many photograph cameras snapped photos of Henry, Joey and the crew.

"Thank you," said the reporter. "We're live at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and we are about to reveal the new Ink Machine; a device that was once used to create life made from ink! This was made from the Joey Drew Studios and since they aren't using it anymore, they are willing to display it at this museum. Here with us are Henry Stein, Joey Drew – the managers of Joey Drew Studios – and their crew to promote this machine at this special celebration. Joey Drew, tell me, what influenced you make this incredible machine?"

"This machine," explained Joey. "It's a machine unlike any other. This can create a cartoon character to life. We created life. We take the people out from the silver screen and the fancy pictures, and throw them into reality. It's a miracle of how we can turn a lump of turn to a true meaning. However – as all of you know – I made a huge mistake. I overused it and it caused many people to nearly die. Henry was able to save the day and save everyone in the studio. To earn our happy ending, we decided to place this beauty here…where it should be."

The reporter nodded. "Yes, we all know about this 'incident'. But you already pay for your crimes, right?"

Henry spoke. "Yeah. Apparently, he wasn't in control during that time. He was going through trauma and some black magic so we put him through therapy. He is recovering well and will be back on track."

"Alright then! It's an honor for us to reveal this magnificent machine to the public. Now, it will be revealed where it can be enjoyed by EVERYONE! Henry, can you do the honors?"

Henry nodded. Joey gave him a smile. Henry grabbed one edge of the sheet and pulled it over, revealing the machine.

Or at least what MUST be the machine.

Henry's smile dropped.

On top of the platform was just large piles of cardboard boxes. All brown and lacking shine. Scribbled in red, there was a message on the sides saying this;

_**SUCK MY D***!**_

The whole room fell quiet.

Henry and Joey stared wide-eyed.

Allison placed her hand to cover her mouth.

Both Shawn and Wally were dumbfounded.

The crowd were speechless.

Anyone who was near a young child quickly placed their hand over the kid's eyes.

Thomas was PISSED.

He swore loudly. If you were watching this at home, his voice would be replaced by a variation of bleeps.

Henry could only stuttered out one word; "W-what?"

* * *

The whole thing fell apart. With the Ink Machine missing, nobody knew where it went. Henry and Joey swore that they just put it up onto the platform. It couldn't disappear like that. The crowd was obviously disappointed by the machine's absence. Joey and Allison started to panic. Shawn and Wally were in uproar. Thomas was very angry that he continued to swear non-stop. The museum workers searched throughout the place, but they couldn't find the Ink Machine. The investigation team had already arrived at the scene to solve the case. Unable to handle the situation, Henry made an excuse to go outside.

The Ink Machine?

Missing?

That was impossible!

He swore he saw the metal wall through the gaps of the white sheet. It couldn't be possible for it to disappear like that. It was just a machine. Not some magic device that could teleport away. It was even off! What happened to it? Henry felt a chill down his spine.

He was ticked off by the fact that it was replaced by some delinquent art. Just why did the machine was gone?

Was it…stolen?

His thoughts were cut off when he felt his phone buzzing. He took it out. It was Laura. She wanted to call him.

"Hi my dear Laura," said Henry through the phone.

"_Hi Dad!_" said Laura.

"How are you?"

"_I'm alright. I had a good time at school. I met all my friends and it was great there! Well…I wish Elena could say the same thing as I did._"

"Why's that?"

"_There's this…uh…I rather not tell you about it because…it would be more awkward if we talk more about it…and we already solved the case…it's just that…I think Elena is…upset._"

Henry frowned. "Upset?"

"_Yeah…about the incident. And also…I think she is hiding something. Do you…know much about Elena and her parents?_"

Henry thought deeply. "All I know is that she is tomboyish. Her parents were good workers of a company. I…I don't know what REALLY happened to them. I don't know much about the Rubystones. Mum knows about it, but she won't tell me why. Her reason? 'Because Elena begged me not to tell'."

Laura hesitated. "_OK…I…I just want to help her. She just acts shady behind those shades. Change of subject. How was the promotion? Did it go well?_"

Henry's face turned pale. What should he do? Truth or lie?

For no reason, he lied.

"Uh…" he said. "I…It went…well? Just a few problems with it…there's a…a few parts that weren't in order…so…we…have…to…fix it."

Laura sounded suspicious. "_Riiiiiiight. Anyway. I gotta go now. Tess is calling me from my live stream. Bye bye!_"

"Bye Laura!" said Henry.

With that, the call was cancelled. Henry sighed and leaned against the wall.

"Why did I lie?" he said rubbing his face. "I wonder what Bendy will think if he finds out that the Ink Machine is missing."

When his hand got out from his sight, he saw something…strange.

There was an ink stain on the road.

Henry got close to it. He bent down. There was a black splat on the cobblestone road.

"Ink?" he said.

He saw that there were even car skid marks on it. Henry looked up to see where the skid marks lead. It trailed outside onto the streets along with a line of stained ink.

A grimace appeared on Henry's face. Something wasn't right.

"Somebody…" he thought. "Somebody stole the machine!"

Deciding to get to the bottom of this, he followed the ink trail. It took about 30 minutes for him to get to the end of the trail. He eventually came upon an old broken warehouse that was on the outskirts of the city. The painting was peeling off, the windows were boarded up and the metal walls began to rust. Henry saw a large puddle of ink on the front entrance. On the doors, there were written signs on it.

_DON'T COME IN!_

_TOP SECRET!_

_AUTHORIZED__ PERSONS ONLY!_

Knowing what must be done, he took out his phone and called the cops.

"Hi there," he said. "I like to report a missing artificial found at an old warehouse on the outskirts of the town."

Once he was done with the call, he tried to open the door. Great. It wouldn't open. He looked up to see a window. It was opened.

Within moments, Henry found himself balancing on two unstable metal barrels, trying to get through the window. Even though he hated being called old, if he fell, he would break his back.

Not pleasant for a 50 years old like him.

Eventually, he was able to get through the window. As he entered the warehouse, he looked around. He was on one of the metal-made bridges. The whole place was dark and cold. The floor seemed to have cracks in them.

Standing up, Henry made his way. In an event like this, he would be worried. It reminded him of the first time he entered the haunted studio. However, this time, he felt…confident. Maybe that was because he was used to experience jump scares during the Ink Machine incident.

He made his way down the stairs and peeked around the corner. He saw something. Right in the distance was a large tent with a light inside. Shadows could be seen from the tent. Nervously, he stepped back…and emerged with a broom as a weapon.

Gulping, he took steady steps towards the tent. When he got close, he lifted up the tent sheets and got a better view of what was inside. There were many tables with scientific beakers, glasses, scientific microscopes and silver plates. There were different chemicals in the glasses. Mostly, they were all black, gloopy and bubbly. However, there were five bottles that stood out from the chemicals. Those five had a cool green chemical and steam could be seen coming out from the mouth.

Henry slowly grabbed one. It was hot. Because he didn't get a degree in science, he took a sniff of it. It smelled…good. Like apples. Unable to resist the urge, he DRANK it.

A sweet AND sour taste exploded in his mouth. Before he could spit it out, his mind told him to drink it up. And he did until the last drop absorbed into his tongue.

"ERGH!" he said putting the bottle down. "This tastes like green apple cordial and not the good kind."

He saw a glass of water so he took it. However, as he swung his arm towards the glass, he accidentally knocked down the other green chemical bottles. They all crashed onto the floor, spilling out the hot green liquid.

"Oops," said Henry. He took a sip of water. "When I'm done, I should probably go see a doctor."

Putting the cup down, he decided to venture further into the warehouse. He walked through a long hallway. It gave him shivers. It was dark and cold. He swore he felt ink falling onto his grey hair. He reached the end and what he saw nearly made his heart stopped.

In front of him was a large room in a beige setting. On the left side was a stage completed with lights and curtains. On the right side was the…

"The Ink Machine?!" Henry said in disbelief.

It couldn't be.

It WAS the Ink Machine.

There – resting on a high platform and connected to machinery that was on the walls – was the dreaded machine. It was…trembling. The nozzle was connected by a slimy black pipe. It was…

"It's back on?" said Henry in disbelief. "I thought we shut it down."

He saw in the middle was something written in the middle surrounded by 12 candles. He came close to it. The drawing was a large circle outlined in black ink with a sickening symbol in the middle.

"A pentagram?" Henry said out loud.

Suddenly, his mind was filled with images of the time back in the haunted studio. He remembered seeing many creepy pentagrams. The Bendy cut-outs. The monsters.

Somebody was trying to use the Ink Machine.

Henry's face turned pale. This couldn't be good. He needed to get out, right at that moment.

Suddenly, the pentagram glowed bright hand.

That was when a large ink hand sprung out from the drawing.

Henry screamed. It reminded him of the Bendy hand that tried to drown him into the ink river before.

He quickly dodged being grabbed and ran off. He tried not to look back, but he did. The ink hand remained in its spot, but ink started to spread everywhere on the walls and the floor.

Shaking his head, Henry dashed out of the hallway. The ink was catching up to him. The lights were flickering. Devilish screams could be heard. Henry never felt so afraid at that time. All he wanted was to get the hell out of this place and forget about it.

He quickly got back onto the bridge and ran as the ink chased after him. He saw the window right in front of him. It was still opened! There was hope for him!

Henry slid to the window.

And a monstrous Bendy head appeared at the window.

"_**HeRe'S bEnDy!**_"

Henry screamed. It was the Ink Demon.

Again.

Before he could do anything, the ugly skinny beast let out a screech. It leaped inside the warehouse and pounced on Henry. The latter felt something sharp stabbing into his skull.

The whole world went black.

* * *

Outside the warehouse, a boarding school could be seen in the city. The sun was shining behind it, giving the school a brown and orange glow. The bronze bricks from the buildings almost looked like the brass metal from a trophy.

In the building, there were many students walking along the hallways, heading to their accommodations. The hallways were almost calm and peaceful as everyone was worn out from their classes. They all wanted to get back to their rooms and take a rest. Half of them wanted to finish up their homework.

Why does it have to be homework?

However, not everyone was tired.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry!"

"Look at where you are going!"

"Sorry!"

"No vehicles in the hallways!"

"This isn't a vehicle!"

"Stop running over my shoes!"

"You guys are being jerks…"

One boy riding on a skateboard burst into his own accommodation room. He zoomed around the room before collapsing on his bed.

"WHOO!" he said, slowly getting up. "Welp, that was fun!"

The boy walked over to his desk. He saw his reflection in a mini mirror. He had green eyes and light peach skin. He was wearing a metallic gold cap with a black brim and black accents, a black shirt with the 'Nintendo 64' logo in neon colours (sky blue, hot pink, lime green and vibrant purple), a loose black short with tight black jeans and metallic golden sneakers with black accents.

Gingerly, he took off his cap to reveal his short blonde hair with a spike in front.

He took out his iPad from his desk and pressed FaceTime.

"I hope that Spider is up," he said to himself.

And in less than 1 beep, Spider's face appeared on the screen. A smile came onto the blonde boy's face, revealing his sharp canines.

"Hi there, Damian," said the blonde boy.

"Hey there, Barrett!" said Spider cheerfully. "I'm happy to see you again!"

"Heh. You know that I called you last night."

"Yeah," said Spider, but he sounded a bit upset. "Sorry. It's just that I can't believe you have to move to San Francisco. I know that you entered that boarding school because you passed the test, but…I wish that you can be back here in Brooklyn."

Barrett slightly laughed. "Don't worry, brother. I'll be fine. I promise that I will return once I finish this term. Besides, this is my chance to become a successful writer."

"OK then. Anyway, how was school?"

"It was fine," said Barrett, flexing his arms. "But…as usual at any school, half of the students are jerks or straight-up idiots. I made a lot of friends. It's a wonder why they always get into trouble and do s**t."

"Are there any pretty girls there?"

"Nope," lied Barrett cheekily. "There's no one."

"C'mon. Schools would have a place of a lot of girls! Or a place of b***ches!"

"Well…there is one girl I befriended."

Spider's face went closer to the screen. "Ooh! Who is she?"

"Well…her name is Tuesday. She's a nice girl and a bit competitive. I think she's kinda into me."

"I know where this is going! Maybe you should-"

"Nah. I'm not doing the 'shoulder touch'," said Barrett, shaking his head. "I swear I'm NOT doing the 'shoulder touch'. I think that it is best for Tuesday and I to be just friends…let me guess. You did the 'shoulder touch' to the new girl at school."

"Why yes!"

Barrett was surprised. He was joking, but he didn't know that his brother would try to woo a new girl.

"So…who is this new girl?" said Barrett.

"For starters," said Spider. "Her name is Elena Rubystone."

Barrett thought on that name for a while. "Rubystone? Why does…that sound familiar?"

"She is in my class and I…I…"

Barrett saw something he had never seen before.

"I…" stuttered Spider, his face turning red. "…I think I l-"

"Oh no, no, no!" said Barrett disgusted. "I see where this is going and I'm afraid that I have to stop you."

"C'mon! I'm not a KID anymore! And because you're a year older than me doesn't mean you have to treat me like a child!"

"Well, you act like a MANCHILD sometimes, you ditz."

Spider sighed. "Anyway. I sat with her at lunchtime. I noticed that…she...there seemed to be something up with her."

"What is it?"

"She…she lashed out on a bully. When Ariel pulled her away, Elena realized what she did and ran off, upset."

The blonde teen bit his lip. "I…I think I might know why."

"Wait. You know Elena before?"

Barrett thought for a while. "Mmmmmmaybe. I can be wrong. I'm not sure if THAT person would match Elena."

Yelling could be heard from Spider's room.

"I got to go," said Spider. "Jace is yelling at me to do some study time."

"OK then," said Barrett smiling. "Be safe, Spider. And please – for ONCE – don't say ANY monologues for the rest of the semester."

Spider looked disappointed. "OK then. Good night, brother. Love you."

Barrett chuckled heartily. "Love you too."

The two fist-bumped on the screen, before Spider ended the call. Barrett sighed and sat on his seat.

"So Spider made a new friend?" thought Barrett to himself. "Hmm? I just hope that Spider doesn't go too close or he will be f***ed up. Should stop swearing, but I'm 16 at the moment. About Elena…Elena Rubystone…I think her last name sounds familiar…and…ARGH! I don't think these two match. Maybe so, but my guess can be wrong."

At this, the door slammed open. Barrett turned around. It was Tuesday. She was also Barrett's roommate (well screw 'no boys in girls' rooms and no girls in boys' rooms'). She was the same age as Barrett, had purple eyes, blonde hair with indigo streaks tied up in a short ponytail, light peach skin and wore a black bird feather (over her left ear), indigo and teal necklaces, a black leather sleeveless top, silver wrist cuffs, an indigo skirt, black leggings and teal wedged sneakers.

"Tuesday!" said Barrett.

The young blonde girl was panting heavily after locking the door. "B-Barrett…I…I…I have to tell you this."

Barrett rolled his eyes. "Of course. Of course. But, sorry. NO. We are not there yet."

"NO!" exclaimed Tuesday in fear. "It's something else!"

Barrett noticed the fearful expression in Tuesday's eyes. "Uh…what is it?"

CRASH!

The once peaceful atmosphere with bird chirping was pushed away by a series of explosion on the outside.

"You…might want to look outside the window," said Tuesday.

Barrett raised his eyebrow. He was suspicious. He thought it would be a prank, but when an ink blot splattered onto the window, he flinched. Tuesday whimpered.

Barrett noticed that something didn't look right. He looked outside the window.

What he saw was unexpected.

"Oh f***," he said.

* * *

**AN: Whelp, you're done for, Barrett. The ink invasion is starting. Yeah...**

**[1] This here is a reference to UglyDolls. The hair colors are from the Perfect Dolls.**

**[2] Note that back when Bendy was born, he NEVER saw anyone with different hair colors. Also, he has been living in the studio for a long time, so he find non-natural hair colors a bit unusual.**

**[3] Ho, ho, ho! This part is inspired by this awesome fan-made cartoon storyboard called 'BENDY in - THE BUTCHER GANG'. Go check it out!**

**[4] I decided to add Wally Franks and Shawn Flynn as minor cameos in the story because I didn't know what happened to them during the events of Bendy and The Ink Machine. I decided to put in the fact that they both got fired before the studio became corrupted.**

**And here we are! Here is the complete list of characters made by many different authors of the Fanfiction community.**

**\- Elena Rubystone - Made by Infinite's Ruby and possibly voiced by Alicia Keys**

**\- Damian 'Spider' Rocketon - Made by The Sensational SpiderDom321 and possibly voiced by Nick Jonas**

**\- Jace Octoson - Made by OctoReader and possibly voiced by ****Tomokazu Sugita.**

**\- Lucy Bluebell - Made by The Real Don Steele and possibly voiced by ****Sierra McComrick.**

**\- Barrett Rocketon - Made by TheGameNguyener and possibly voiced by ****Justin Timberlake.**

**\- Alissa Belladonna - Made by SecretStarr101 and possibly voiced by ****Keke Palmer.**

**\- Damien Wolfbane - Made by SuperKirbyLand234 and possibly voiced by ****Ed Sheeran.**

**\- Clyde Chaos - Made by TurquoiseTriangle/Me and possibly voiced by ****NateWantsToBattle.**

**\- Sven 'Steven' Johansson - Made by Zoggerific and possibly voiced by ****Tara Strong.**

**Keep in touch of which author made which character. Thank you to all those amazing authors for making the characters for this story. I will try my best to describe them in the best way possible. If there is any concerns about your character or the story, please let me know. And also, please respect the authors and their respective characters. Give credit to them for helping me with this story.**

**Since we have a bit more time, I might as well describe a few characters.**

_**Damian 'Spider'**_**_ Rocketon_ is one of the main characters of the story. He is made by _The Sensational SpiderDom321_ and (if this story was made into a movie) would be possibly voiced by _Nick Jonas._ Ah yes. As expressive and fun-loving as _SpiderDom321,_ Spider is pretty much of a dynamite. He likes superhero movie, sometimes referring his lines to Spider Man movies (e.g. the shoulder touch). For this story, Spider is probably the ditz of all the characters. He is based on 'Clay the Rabbit' from 'Sonic Heroes: The Atom Bomb' as both of them likes to monologue a lot. However, Spider is more interested in helping others instead of being popular like Spider Man. The reason why he is only referred by his nickname is because _SuperKirbyLand234_ made a character named Damien. Both of their names are so similar, so I gave Damian a unique name to stand him out.**

_**Barrett**_**_ Rocketon_ is another character who will have a side story. He is made by _TheGameNguyener_ and (if this story was made into a movie) would be possibly voiced by _Justin Timberlake_. For this, he is the older brother of Spider as _TheGameNguyener_ is good friends with _SpiderDom321_. For attire, _Barrett _wears Nintendo merchandise as a reference to the author's love for Nintendo games. He will not be with the main cast yet as Barrett was made a bit late during the writing process. He even have small fangs, based on the wolf brothers in 'Revengeful Resistance'.**

**Wow. This is a long author's note. Better wrap this up. I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you like this story, please**** follow or favorite this story for updates. Make sure to review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of this chapter: After seeing all the characters made by the authors (including mine), which one would be your favorite? Negative feedback on the characters is not allowed.**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter! Thing are going to be ḿ̷̨̨̞̹̟͔̝̠͉̱̜e̵̪͖̜̼̟̪̱̦͊̽̑s̷̘͓̦͎̫͈̺͔̙̯̣̪̅̋̇͝ś̷̭̹̘͇͓͙͖̰͔̱̥̳̄̾͂̀͝ͅÿ̵̧͚̠̂̍̽̑̚̚̚͝͠͝ in the next chapter.**


	3. 2 - Ink Zombie Invasion

**AN: What's up? Chapter 2 is here! In this chapter, I will also introduce two new characters who will play a part of the main plot.**

**So far, this story has gone to 101 views. This is a good headstart. Special thanks to Sapphirabrightscale for following this story and thank you to Infinite's Ruby for making a review.**

**Just a quick note, the whole...eh...'ink invasion'...is based on the zombie Christmas musical 'Anna and the Apocalypse'. Even though I didn't watch it, I grew up to like the idea that this movie inspired me to make this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Ink Zombie Invasion**

**Bendy's POV, Brooklyn, 3/09 (at 7 am)**

I had a dream before I woke up. I mean…I had a NIGHTMARE.

It was one of those memories when I was back in the studio. When everything was possessed by evilness. I remembered walking through those hallways all by myself.

It was dark, but there was still some light that provided enough illumination for me to see. Everything was made the wood. The atmosphere was yellow as if it was back in the 1900s. It was so cold and there were ink dripping from the ceiling. You would be lucky if you would be able to avoid getting your head drenched in ink.

As I made through those hallways, I always stayed quiet. I slowly walked across the floor making sure that my footsteps were quiet. I didn't want to be caught by those monsters I saw. I had to be as quiet as a mouse.

And then, I saw an exit.

I thought this might be my only way out.

But as I got closer, I noticed that there was an ink puddle in front of the door. And the hallways were dripping in thick ink.

And that was when the dreaded beast of the studio appeared.

**SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!**

I screamed as the beast came in front of my eyes. The creature appeared as a malformed, skeletal figure with its skin covered in black ink resembling tar. Its head highly resembled me, but the top area appeared melted while obscuring its eyes. His horns were slightly more curved and pointed in appearance twitching violently. Its toothy grin, with sketch-like shadings, twitched constantly. The spine appeared slightly crooked or curved, possibly referencing the spinal condition scoliosis. His slightly hunched back also sports spiky-looking spines for demonic features.

I turned around and ran away from it.

The Ink Demon ran after me.

I was running hall to hall, trying to get away from the demon. Normally, I would be able to hide in another room or in one of those Little Miracle Stations. But in my dreams, I wasn't able to hide.

I saw a door and bumped into it. I tried to open the door, but the knob wouldn't budge. I would scream at it to open, but my voice couldn't break down that stupid door.

At this, the Ink Demon caught up to me and grabbed my tail. I was carried off the ground. I saw the grinning face of the demon before it opened its mouth and threw me inside.

CRUNCH!

That was when I woke up.

I looked around. I was still in my bedroom. Taking a peek from the window, I saw the sunset sky. Morning was still far away. I saw on my clock, saying that it was 7. The rest of the family would wake up 30 minutes later.

I sighed. I thought back to that horrible nightmare I had. I rubbed my eyes. It was those memories that I tried to forget. The ones I tried to claim that they were already over. The ones I tried to look away from. However, they still appeared in my sleeps on random nights. They would never leave me alone.

I wanted to go back to sleep. On that day, I was given a break from the studio since there was a gas leak there. I would have slept until 10 am, but I didn't want to have that nightmare again. Unable to go back to sleep, I stood up and decided to go outside for a walk.

As I went out from the house, I walked alongside the pavement. I looked around. I saw the bright orange sun on the horizon. The sky was a brilliant gradient of orange, pink and blue. There were fluffy white clouds in the sky. The streets were quiet as nearly everybody was inside.

I bumped into some people who went out for their morning walk, so I waved hello to them. The people looked a bit surprised. They either returned the gesture or just gave me a confused weird look. I didn't care.

As I walked, I noticed that in the sunrise sky, there was an amazing display of shiny black streaks flying through the air. I couldn't see what they look like, but they were so…awesome.

At first, I was astonished. After a while, I grew uneasy.

I noticed that there were more streaks falling to the horizon, but I shrugged it off and kept on walking. However, when the sun was in full view, I could see the black streaks better. They seemed…to be melting.

Something was definitely NOT right.

And whatever they were, they were definitely NOT just streaks.

I gulped.

As I made my way up a hill – away from the streets – I saw something that made my heart dropped.

"Oh no," I said.

Below me was the main town of Brooklyn. And oh, the aftermath of a massive war-like scenario. Huge cracks on the ground. Giant craters. Most of the buildings had been damaged or covered in ink. There were even ink stains on the cracked road.

I looked on at the scene of devastation.

"W-what?" I said. "I…I don't understand."

A dreaded thought came into my mind. I slapped myself in the face to wake myself up. But it didn't work. This was real. My worst nightmare.

"No…" I said out loud. "T-this can't be…I thought that the…"

I slowly trailed off when I saw two black streaks hurtling down out of the clouds and smashed through the window of an apartment. There was silence…and then.

**SCCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!**

A loud ear-piercing screech could be heard. I knew it was too familiar for me. There were screaming and yelling inside the apartment. Popping out of the exit was a couple with two malformed ink creatures running after them.

I gasped.

One of the ink creatures looked like Charley, but one of its eyes was shut, its clothes were torn, one of its arms was gone and there was a leg replaced with a plunger.

The other ink creature looked like Barley except that its neck was replaced with a wooden fishing rod which allowed its head to dangle by a thread. Its face was mutated as the mouth was widened up to see the whole teeth, its nose looked like a pipe and one of its eyes had the letter 'X' on it.

I shuddered.

I started to run to the couple and I yelled at them to run. But it was too late. The ink monsters quickly caught up to their prey and surrounded them in a menacing circle.

All of a sudden, they lunged in and bit the couple. The man cried out in pain and the woman screamed at a crescendo level. The ink creatures left a large bit on their arms. I felt a wave of nausea as I saw blood dripping from the wounds. But then, the blood turned into…ink? The wound suddenly turned black and the blackness started to spread through the couple's bodies. They could only scream in fear as they were gradually consumed by the blackness.

And they went quiet.

I shook my head in disbelief. What were once the human couple were transformed into two ink humanoid creatures. They appeared to be bald, buff and their nails turned into claws. Oh, and let's not forget the big sharp teeth they had.

They saw me and let out a snarl. My legs were trembling like jelly. I grinned sheepishly, waved goodbye and ran off, screaming all the way.

All I knew was that no one was safe.

* * *

**Elena's POV, 7:30 am**

"Where's Bendy?" asked Alice as I came into the kitchen the next day.

"I don't know," said Linda as she fed Grace mushy apples. "I haven't seen him."

She looked at me. "Do you know where he is?"

"I don't really know," I said shrugging, brushing through my white silky hair. I decided not to tie it up, so I combed it on the left. "I was too tired to see if he left or not."

"I think he just went out for a walk," said Laura. "That's what he does whenever he gets nightmares."

This caught my attention. "Nightmares?"

"Yeah. Bendy only told me and Henry about this. Apparently, he is suffering from memories of back in the studio. Spending 10 years in a haunted studio took its toll. It's not really PTSD, but he has them on random nights."

"Oh dear," said Boris. "I hope that he is alright."

I tutted. "I'm sure he is alright. He would be coming back to the house right now."

As if on cue, we heard a door opening and…

SLAM!

Slamming…

We saw Bendy running to us. He looked as if he took a 24 hour marathon.

"GUYS!" he exclaimed.

"Bendy!" said Laura. "How was your w-?"

"I…I…I…" Bendy looked…nervous. "I SAW THOSE SAME INK MONSTERS!"

Boris and Alice stood up in shock. "WHAT?!"

"Y-Yeah! I saw at the main town that they had stripped it to the core! There was ink everywhere and there were ink monsters biting onto people! Those poor people turned…turned into…"

He looked like he was about to faint. I grabbed a nearby water bottle and splashed it onto him.

"Thanks," he said. "I needed that."

"Hold up," said Laura bending down to Bendy's level. "There are…ink monsters? From the…Ink Machine?"

"I…I don't believe it. But…but they were…"

My eyes widened in shock behind my sunglasses. Laura's face turned pale. Linda gasped. Boris and Alice looked worried.

"Are you sure?" I said. "Or are you hallucinating?"

"I swear!" cried Bendy. "I saw them!"

"Wait," said Linda. "If they ARE real, were you followed?"

"Uh…no?"

BANG!

We all looked at the door.

BANG!

It shook violently.

BANG!

A large fist-sized bulge could be seen from it.

BANG!

"I guess they DID followed me," said Bendy sheepishly.

I face palmed. "You idiot."

BANG!

"Everyone stay behind me!" said Laura.

"Be careful!" said Linda.

"Don't worry, mum. I got this."

Laura stood in front of us and got into an attack position. The door banged again. When it reached its limit, it broke.

BANG!

The door reduced into splinters. However, to our surprise, there was nobody there.

"That's weird," said Laura. "Isn't there someone there or-?"

**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!**

Out of nowhere, a large humanoid creature covered in ink came flying towards us. We all screamed. We quickly got out of the way as the creature hit into the sink. When it got up, I got a good look at it.

It was all in black.

Dripping ink.

It had no eyes.

No hair.

Just a large muscle body.

And sharp yellow teeth.

It was so ugly.

It let out another screech and pounced onto Linda who was holding Grace.

"LINDA!" screamed Bendy.

"MUM!" screamed Laura.

The ink monster reared in and bit onto Linda. The latter let out a cry of pain. I winced as I cowered backwards. I heard Grace crying, the young baby afraid of what was happening. And then, the ink monster bit on Grace. I heard the baby let out a loud scream that would nearly break the windows.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM, YOU DIPS**T!" yelled Laura aggressively.

She angrily ran to the monster and kicked it away. The ink monster let out an unearthly roar as it hit the floor. Laura looked back at Linda.

"Mum?" she said. "Mum? Are you OK?"

I gasped when I saw this; there was a nasty bite mark on Linda and Grace. There was blood spilling from those wounds. However, the blood turned…black.

"Mum?" said Laura.

"L…Laura?" said Linda. "What's going on?"

I looked at the wounds. They turned…black. The blackness started to spread through their bodies. Linda screamed seeing this. Grace continued to cry in pain. Both of them let out cries of fear as the blackness gradually spread through their bodies. Laura and I looked in horror. Alice was crying, hiding behind a shocked Boris. Bendy was shaking.

And then…Linda and Grace were no more.

Both of them had turned into ink monsters. Linda appeared to be made from ink. She lost her hair. Her body was buff. She had claws on her fingers and toes. Her eyes were gone. Her teeth were yellow and sharp. Grace turned into a horrible-looking ink critter.

"No…no…no…" said Laura in disbelief.

At this, the two ink monsters screeched and tried to tackle Laura, but she was quick. She quickly dodged. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a knife from the shelf and ran to the ink monsters.

"Please forgive me!" I said.

I stabbed the knife into the ink monster that used to be Linda. It roared and collapsed, focusing on the pain. The little ink monster tried to bite me, but I quickly grabbed it by the throat and threw it into the fridge, shutting it locked.

"C'mon!" said Alice. "Let's get out of here!"

Alice and Boris ran off to the garage door. I didn't go yet. I saw Laura who was staring at the ink monster. It pulled the knife out and the hole in its body seemed to…reform.

They were INDESTRUCTIBLE.

Laura just stood there, tears in her eyes. Bendy hopped onto her shoulders and patted her on the head gently. I grabbed Laura's hand. She looked at me. I noticed that the hurt in her eyes. Her mother and little sister were…gone.

"Get a grip, cousin," I said, pulling her away.

The three of us caught up with Boris and Alice. We all ran outside. As we ran across the streets, I noticed that everything…was madness. The entire town was filled with many ugly and terrifying ink monsters. The normally quiet streets turned into hell. There were many people running or trying to fight back the attacking ink monsters. Some of them were pleading for mercy. Some of them were hiding. To my dismay, most of them got bitten and turned into ink monsters. It was like a zombie apocalypse.

"This is terrible," I said.

We continued to run with many ink monsters on our trail. Laura quickly kicked away any monsters that dared to come close to us. Finally, we reached the school. To my surprise, the door was opened with the teachers in front, getting people inside. There were also a few people hiding behind barriers, shooting down the ink monsters with everything they had.

"C'MON!" called the teachers. "EVERYONE GET INSIDE! GO! GO! GO!"

"There!" said Bendy. "Get inside!"

We all run towards the school. Laura, Bendy, Boris and Alice managed to get inside. For me? Not so much. I was close to getting inside the school when an ugly ink monster jumped from the ground. I fell down, screaming.

It reared in showing its sharp teeth.

I thought I was going to die when there was a large crack and the ink monster exploded. Ink flew everywhere and spilt onto me.

"AUGH!" I screamed. "Disgusting!"

"Gotcha!" yelled someone.

I looked up. It was Jace.

"Well c'mon!" he said with a smirk. "Where's my thank you?"

"Let's just get inside," I said impatiently.

I got up and the two of us zoomed straight inside the school. The teachers quickly closed the doors.

SLAM!

As soon as the large doors slammed, we could hear many ink monsters bumping into them. That was when a few adults quickly pulled out heavy objects and used them to block the doors, thus preventing them from opening.

"This is bad," said Bendy. "This is SO bad."

"Don't worry!" said one of the teachers. "These doors have the strength of a rhino. They won't break easily."

BANG!

Everyone screamed. Through the gaps of the objects, we saw an ink creature rubbing its face on the windows. It was disgusting.

"Gross!" said Laura.

"I think I'm going to be sick!" said one man.

"This is too scary!" whimpered Lucy.

"What the hell is going on?" said Jace.

"EVERYONE!" called another teacher. "Head over to the gym. We will safer there! C'mon! Let's go!"

We all packed inside the gym. There were a lot of people there. I noticed that half of them were the students. So far, I saw Jace, Lucy, Ariel, Fritz and a few others. Stressed-out people started to make a lot of noise.

"This is bad," said Boris.

"I can't believe this," said Alice.

"Bendy," said Laura. "This…is this about the Ink Machine?"

"I swear!" said Bendy. "I didn't do anything!"

I gave him a look. "What were you REALLY doing outside?"

"I was just taking a walk and then I saw the town in ink!"

My eyes narrowed. "Did you caused this?"

"No!"

"Elena," said Laura firmly. "Leave him alone. He didn't do anything wrong."

"But he is an ink demon," I pointed out. "How are we supposed to know that he wasn't responsible for what happened out there?"

That was when we heard the monitor playing. It showed an image of breaking news. It changed to a shot showing a news reporter at a table.

"Breaking news!" he said from the playing monitor. "Chaos has struck the entire society of America. Many unidentified hostile monsters – seemingly made from ink – are roaming the streets and innocent civilians are turned into ink monsters as well! More ink monsters can be seen about to spread throughout the globe. They are flooding nearly everywhere! Officials and the government pleaded everyone to stay indoors or anywhere safe. Military armies are heading over to pick up any survivors. We go live to Fierro Matcha who – for some reason – is in San Francisco."

The monitor changed to a scene in San Francisco. It took place at the Golden Gate Bridge. There were many people there – guided by military soldiers – walking away. There was another reporter there dressed in a tuxedo, tan skin, brown eyes and red hair.

"Thank you for the report, random news reporter," said Fierro. "We believe we found the source of where the ink monsters are coming from. Last night, Henry Stein and Joey Drew were promoting their Ink Machine at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, when the machine disappeared all of a sudden!"

Everyone gasped. Bendy was shocked.

"WHAT?!" he said.

"T…the Ink Machine?" I said confused.

Laura looked at Bendy. "I thought it was disabled!"

"I thought so too," said Bendy frowning. "Unless…someone fixed the machine and turned it on."

"Henry Stein reported that the machine was found at a large abandoned warehouse that was on the outskirts of the city," continued Fierro. "From a bird's eye view, we can see many ink monsters coming out from the warehouse. We don't know what happened to Henry, but Joey Drew and his crew all fell victim to the ink monsters. It is likely that someone is using the Ink Machine."

If Bendy's face could turn pale, it would.

"No…" said Bendy. "Not Henry…not Joey.."

"Dad?" said Laura on the brink of tears.

"But fear not!" said Fierro with a confident look. "The brave armies are handling the situation questioning who is behind all of this. Who are they? Where do they come from? And why are they doing this?"

As he spoke, there was a loud rumbling. The people from the monitor screamed and ran off in a panic. Fierro remained in his spot…confused. The man who was carrying the camera quickly dropped it, so it showed a low angle shot of Fierro. From there, we could see many ink creatures running towards the screaming people.

"The world leaders are currently trying to identify those creatures…" said Fierro. "There seems to be some kind of commotion going on-"

He was cut off when a few ink monsters jumped onto him. Nobody knew what was happening as the ink monsters surrounded him, but you could hear the sound of munching and Fierro crying. There was nothing, but the tearing of hands and teeth. And then, the screen went into a static state.

Everyone was quiet.

The screen turned back to the news HQ. The news reporter looked shocked.

"Uh…" he said. "OK…something happened with the channel. Until we receive more news on the situation, I recommend everyone to stay indoors and avoid those monsters. There is no need for-"

Out of nowhere, ink monsters burst in, screeching at the news reporter. The camera suddenly fell onto the floor. We get this shot of the reporter screaming in agony as the ink monsters bit him. And then, the monitor went out.

It was dead silence.

Until…

"**WE'RE GONERS!**" screamed Flynn.

Everyone started to panic. People started to run away in every direction. Some were crying loudly. Some were complaining about the loss of their lives, loved one and homes. Some fainted. The scene was hopeless. Because of the ink monsters, homes were destroyed, families were separated and many lives were gone. If this was a zombie movie, I would wish to get out from it.

"WE'RE HOMELESS!" cried Celine.

"What are we going to do now?!" exclaimed Ariel.

One girl cried loudly, causing black lines to go down her face.

"Geez," said one teacher, trying to calm down the crowd. "I've never seen this many people ever since the flood of 84!"

Worry and fear filled me. I placed my hand over my mouth. What? T…the Ink Machine was responsible for this? Joey Drew was gone? Henry was…? The thought overwhelmed me. I felt tears in my eyes, but they were hidden behind my shades.

Laura looked like she was about to cry. Alice placed a hand on her shoulder. Bendy looked down in shocked guilt. It was clear what happened.

The Ink Machine was working again.

* * *

**Third Person's POV, ?**

Henry coughed.

His head was hurting.

His body felt weirdly cold.

He struggled to open his eyes.

He tried to sit up, but he felt weak and tired.

That was unfortunate for a 50 years old like him.

"Crap," he thought.

He didn't know how long he was sleeping.

It could had been a few minutes.

It could had been a few hours.

It could had been a few days.

All he remembered was running out of a warehouse and bumping into the Ink Demon.

"That wasn't real…" he thought. "Was it?"

He managed to get up. He looked around. He was lying on a soft bed in a large room. It consisted of two other beds, a kitchen stove and a toilet room. To his surprise, everything was in yellow. There were some ink stains around.

"W…what?" he thought. "Am I back in the studio?"

But he wasn't back in the studio. It DIDN'T felt like the studio. Something wasn't right. He heard whistling and realized that he wasn't the only one alone in the room. He looked to his right at the kitchen bench. To his surprise, there was another person there.

"Uh…" said Henry nervously. "Hi."

The person turned around. "Oh, goodie. You're awake."

Henry observed the person. He seemed to be in his teen years, somewhat Laura's age. He had light peach skin, ocean blue eyes and long blonde hair styled in three smooth tail-like bangs, combed to the right. He was wearing an orange jacket (the inside was black) zipped nearly high, a white singlet, blue jeans and black boots. He looked…stern.

"What are you doing here?" said the blonde-haired boy.

"What are YOU doing here?" said Henry back.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Just taking care of your ass here. I have to stay here and wait for Harley to get the hell back here."

Henry immediately stood up when he heard the word 'Harley'.

"Harley?" said Henry in shock.

"I just said that name," said the boy annoyed. "Keep up. And lie down. Your body needs to heal."

"I'm feeling alright."

True to his word, Henry's body was…strangely fine. At first, he felt cold, but at that moment, it felt…relieved.

He heard a woman screaming. It was coming from a nearby door. The door opened and a woman came barging into the room before shutting the door close.

"Phew!" she said in an Indian accent. "That was close!"

Henry took a good look at the woman. She seemed to be in her 30s. She had brown skin, hazel brown eyes and black straightened hair with red streaks. Her hair was combed on both sides and tied into a very tight, smooth and low ponytail. She was wearing golden earrings, a light yellow opened blazer, a lime green shirt, brown trousers and black boots.

Henry gasped upon remembering who that woman was. Her voice was somewhat familiar…except it was older. And he remembered seeing those hazel eyes before.

"Wait," he said as the woman looked at him. "Aren't you…Harley Tiffany?"

Harley was surprised when she saw Henry. She nodded. "Yeah…hi, Mr Stein."

Now you see, when Henry was drafted from Joey Drew Studio thirty years ago, he moved to San Francisco. While he took his job as a newspaper writer, he even became a part-time English teacher helper. One of his students was Harley; who was a child back then. Back in the present, Henry stared at the grown-up Harley in a mixture of confusion and surprise.

Henry smiled. "You have grown, my dear. You still look beautiful."

Harley smiled shyly. "Yeah…it's nice to see you again."

The boy groaned. "Will you two stop making up and tell me what's going on?"

Harley looked at the boy. "Liam. I told you, there's no need to show behavior like that."

Liam rolled his eyes. "But do you know him before?"

"Yes," said Harley. "He was my English teacher when I was around 10 years old."

"Actually, I was a teacher HELPER," corrected Henry.

Liam turned his head to Henry. "But what the hell are YOU doing here?"

Henry frowned. "I was trying to find the Ink Machine that went missing at the museum. I came across a warehouse and I spotted the machine…and a pentagram. Everything started to flood in ink so I quickly ran, but then…call me crazy, but there was this…ink demon that popped out and I blacked out."

A troubled look came across Harley's face. Liam flinched.

"You mean…Bendy?" said Liam.

Henry's eyes widened up. "You…you know as well?"

Harley inhaled sharply. "Yeah…we both know what was going on. Something terrible happened."

"What happened?"

Harley stayed quiet. Liam hesitated.

"I…it's quite complicated," said Liam.

Henry crossed his arms. "I would like to hear."

"It's…it's a bit tough to tell, but to put it simple, everything went to s**t and this is the outcome."

Harley gave Liam a glare. "Liam. Language!"

"He's right," said Henry rubbing his face. "Everything DID go to s**t."

Liam gave Harley a look. "See? I told you. Adults also swear."

Harley scoffed before turning her attention to Henry. "It's going to be hard to say, but…there's one thing we are comfortable with."

"What is it?" said Henry.

"We know how to stop the ink apocalypse."

Henry's heart dropped. "A-apocalypse?"

"Apparently," explained Liam. "Ever since the Ink Machine was working…and there was a pentagram working…ink monsters were made…they are flooding the cities already…and whoever is bitten by those things becomes one of them."

Henry had a faraway look in his eyes. The Ink Machine. It was working. His worst nightmare came true. Ink monsters were loose. They were already out of the streets. Who knew how much they damaged lately.

"We know about the pentagram there," said Harley. "Someone was studying black magic and successfully used the pentagram to make…dark magic. We are currently 50 levels below the warehouse. If we can get rid of that pentagram, then everything would revert back to normal."

Henry shook his head. "What? Dark magic? This is sick. How can erasing a drawing on the floor will solve everything?"

Liam rolled his eyes. "Said the old man who used a reel tape to transform a haunted studio back into a better place."

Henry gave Liam a look. "Look, runt. I'm not THAT old. I'm 50 years old and my body is built in a good appropriate shape."

Liam tutted. He turned around and went to the kitchen bench to cook something.

Harley sighed and whispered to Henry. "Pardon him. He's…a bit insecure."

"Wow, I can't really tell why," said Henry sarcastically. "Do you know how all of this happened?"

Harley opened her mouth…then hesitated. She didn't want to tell Henry yet. Not when Liam wasn't ready.

"Just…" she said. "Just give us time. It's a bit…hard to say. You should probably get some rest. We'll talk again later."

Henry sighed and sat onto the bed. He watched as Harley went over to Liam to help him cook. He became worried when he wondered how things were going on back home. Laura, Bendy, Linda and Elena must be all worried. Worse, they might fall victim to the ink monsters.

He bit his lip. What he might do might not work, but he must try.

He took out his phone and contacted Laura. He was lucky that the phone signals and the internet data were still up. As he placed his ear over his phone, he heard the all-too-familiar ringing, waiting for Laura to pick up.

"C'mon," he said. "Please…please…"

A beep could be heard from the other hand.

"Hello?" said a shaking voice.

Henry sighed in relief. His daughter was still alive. "Hi Laura."

"D-DAD?!"

"Calm down, girl. I'm still alive."

Laura calmed down, but she sounded like she was going to cry.

"I'm…I'm so sorry…" she said.

"Are you OK though?" said Henry. "Are the others OK?"

There was silence for a while.

"Uh…yeah…Elena…Bendy…Boris…Alice…and I…we are at the school with the rest of the survivors. We are all waiting for the military to arrive to pick us up. We can't stay here for long."

"What about Linda and Grace?"

There was a sob. "I…I…They are gone. They were…bitten…turned into those ink monsters…I…I couldn't save them…I…I couldn't get them back…I…I…"

A look of guilt appeared on Henry's face. "I'm so sorry. It's not your fault."

So his eldest daughter was alright. His wife and little daughter didn't make it out alive.

"Where are you?" said Laura.

"Good question," said Henry. "I don't really know. All I know is that I'm underground near the source of where those ink monsters are coming from."

"…wait. What? You…you can't be serious!"

"I…I know. And for some reason, I think I have to get to the bottom of this. I will find a way to end this."

"No. No you won't. Whatever you are doing, don't die. I promise…I WILL RESCUE YOU."

Henry was shocked. "W-what?! No. It's too dangerous. I'm fine on my own."

"I must at least try."

"You can't make your way to San Francisco all by yourself. Especially when there's ink monsters around. It's impossible."

There was a dead silence between Henry and his daughter. Laura finally let out a response.

"I won't go alone."

"Wait!" said Henry.

But Laura hung up. Henry groaned and placed two hands onto his face. This was bullcrap. Not only that the world was plunged into chaos. He was trapped beneath the ground – just like going through the haunted studio again – under the source of the problem and his daughter was going to find him.

But how? Laura couldn't fight her way through. She wasn't that strong to take on million ink beasts. She would be killed! Henry lost his wife, daughter and his good pal already. He couldn't let Laura go as well.

"Dear God…" he said under his breath. "Please give me strength."

* * *

**Bendy's POV, 6 pm**

It had been hours since we all huddled up at the school. Apparently, the military were trying to get through the ink monsters, but they managed to get rid of them gradually. They reported to us that they would be here soon in an hour or two. I just sat in the cafeteria on one of the tables. I was just staring at nothing, lost in thought. I saw many people talking to each other, talking about this incident. It spread throughout the room like wildfire.

Something caught my eye. It was Clyde and Fritz; those two boys I saw the day before. They were sitting at one of the tables. Clyde looked…different. I mean, he was dressed differently. He was wearing black headphones around his neck, an opened denim black jacket, a black shirt, black track pants with white stripes and black sneakers. His hair was tied up in a slightly high ponytail – or topknot - and the turquoise streak on his hair was bright red.

"Decided to go dark, eh?" I thought grimly.

I noticed that Clyde looked like he was crying a lot. His eyes were slightly red. He was in a troubled fetal position while Fritz was looking through his computer.

"This is a nightmare," whimpered Clyde.

"I had bad nightmares before…" said Fritz. "…but this is the worse."

He was typing on his computer before he froze.

"S**t!" he hissed.

"What is it?" said Clyde.

"Justin is now a zombie!"

Clyde groaned as he stared at the screen. "You know that the celebrities are dropping like flies already. JUST LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FAMILY! And what is this?"

Fritz scoffed. "Are they really that stupid to take selfies near ink monsters?"

Clyde slammed onto his seat. "We all deserve to go extinct."

"I can use a big damn bottle of acetone to clear all the ink. The size of God."

I looked away. Even though I wasn't listening to them, I still could hear them talk.

"Hey…" said Fritz. "Is that Bendy?"

"Yeah…" said Clyde. "Something…doesn't look right."

"Normally, from the cartoons, he always smiling and grinning. He appears to be…depressed."

Clyde sighed. "Just like how we were before we even became friends."

"Hey!" snapped Fritz. "Don't remind me that!"

"I'm sorry. I'm…making a point."

"…I have to go. I gotta check up my family."

"OK then. I'll…go talk with Bendy."

Fritz snickered. "You're going to stutter, aren't you?"

"Just wish me luck…I'm…still learning how to talk to new people."

After a few minutes of silence, I felt somebody tapping on my shoulder. It was Clyde. I didn't notice him coming up to me.

"Uh…" he said. "Are…are you OK?"

"…not really…" I said. "…and yet…"

I just shook my head and walked away. Clyde grabbed me by the tail.

"Hey," he said.

"What?" I said slightly annoyed.

Clyde crossed his arms. "I…I just…want to know what's bothering you…"

"I could ask the same question to you," I said back. "Oh wait. You lost your family as well, huh?"

A pained look appeared on Clyde's face. He shook it off.

"You seemed to be…uh…looking…um…guil…ty?" he said awkwardly.

Boy. That kid had social problems.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's just that…I thought that the Ink Machine was at a good state…but…now…it's…used…again. This time, it's used as an instrument of destruction to the entire world."

Clyde bent down to my level. "Hey. The whole bloody world isn't overthrown by them. Maybe…uh…maybe someone will find a way to stop that machine and save the world. I think…maybe it will all be over soon."

"But many people died!" I blurted out. "It was my fault! I knew that machine shouldn't exist in the first place"

Clyde looked shocked. "But you were born from that machine!"

"That doesn't mean I love it!" I said. "Sure, yes; that is where I was created, but…after the Ink Machine incident during the summer, it was disabled. I wanted to send that to the incinerator, but Joey wanted to sell it off for money. You see…I'm a worker of Joey Drew Studios. Everyone is responsible for making that machine. That thing is so…deadly. It is a piece of trash. Even if I won't be able to be here, I…I don't think it should be made in the first place. It's not worth…getting people's lives in risk…having their souls transferred into malicious monsters. I've already seen too much. Back when the studio goes under terror, I saw people being swept away in ink. Some of them were turned into ink monsters. They were just trudging through the halls, moaning out for blood or help, wishing to be free. And now? Just then, I saw the life of a mother and baby been taken away. They both turned into monsters. Never to be cured again. I can still hear their cries."

Clyde sighed. "Don't put the blame on you. There must be some way to turn things around."

"Oh really?" I said, getting angry for all of a sudden. "Then how come I got stuck in a haunted studio for 10 years on my own? How about we kick you outside and see how you like it when you are being chased by ink monsters and begging for your family to rescue you? Oh wait. Again, your family isn't here! I bet you are scared of being killed!"

I immediately closed my mouth. Even though I don't swear, I knew what I said wasn't right.

That was when Clyde snapped.

"Do you bloody think I deserve to die?" he said in a menacing voice standing up. "I am trying to be nice here, but you just shut me off! You remind me of those blonde boys I met before. I tried very hard to convince them to stop their mean act in posting up bloody images on social media. Do you know how long that took?! If you say any more of this crap, things will get ugly."

I wasn't sure how to react to this. Frustrated, Clyde sighed.

"My apologies," he said, bending down to my level again. "What I'm saying is that it's not your fault for all of this. You didn't do anything wrong. The whole invasion wasn't under your will. And it ain't anyone's fault for all of this. Unexpected things can happen, but it's important to be ready for them. Try not to concentrate on the past too much. And for those who die, we will still remember them by memory."

I had to admit, that little speech warmed me up a little. A smile crept on my face.

"Say," I said. "You are a very wise person. Thank you."

Clyde smiled, a bit…shyly. "Uh…t-t-thanks?"

"I'm sorry for what I said to you. Even for an Asian like you, I must respect you."

Clyde rolled his eyes annoyed. "Just face it. I'm Malaysian, Christian, grew up from Australia and a bit bisexual. Deal with it."

He slowly held out his hand to me. "Anyway…I'm Clyde Chaos."

I shook his hand politely. "I'm Bendy. And also, you're welcome for yesterday."

Clyde looked confused. "What…oh…that 'thing'. You…you don't have to do it."

"Well at least I get to show those jerks a thing or two."

"Just please don't get involved with this kind of action. Trust me. I did before."

"OK then. By the way, are you referring 'Fritz' as this 'blonde boy' you said?"

Clyde looked a bit baffled. "What? No. He's my friend. His hair is naturally golden, not blonde. I'm referring to…someone else."

"Wait. I thought you avoid people, so how come you are friends with him?"

"Correction. I DON'T avoid people. I AVOID bad people like Diesel and his douche-bags. It's just that…I…uh…I…uh…um…"

I tilted my head a bit. He smiled awkwardly.

"I'm not interested in participating in…uh…conversations…like…these…" he said shyly. "…because…I…have autism."

"What's 'autism'?" I asked.

"…uh…never mind…doesn't matter," he said. "Uh…can you tell me where Jace is? He got something he needs to owe me."

"I think I saw him around. Follow me!"

* * *

**Elena's POV**

I didn't know what to say. Amongst the pressure, the only thing I was upset about was seeing Laura upset.

Her parents were gone.

So was Grace.

I adjusted my glasses a bit as I walked through the hallways.

I felt sorry for Laura. I never seen her this upset before. Normally, I seen her in this adventurous and plucky tomboy who was ready for a challenge. But on this day, it seemed to be thrown out of the window. I guessed that at that moment, Laura and I were even. We both lose our parents and we needed to get over them.

I bumped into Laura. To my surprise, she was carrying a sleeping bag. I came over to her.

"Laura?" I said. "Are you OK?"

"I'm alright," she said.

"What are you doing? I didn't see you with a thick bag when we got out of the house."

"Oh. I am…about to go on an adventure."

She turned around. She had a smirk on her face.

"Uh…" I said. "This is kind of creepy. Don't drag me in an intercourse."

"What? Oh no, no, no! I'm going…on a rescue mission."

My eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

Laura smiled. "I'm going to find my father."

I let out a loud 'WHAT'. I couldn't believe it.

"Elena," said Laura. "Listen to me. Henry is still alive."

I scoffed. "You think? He's already dead in San Francisco."

"That's not true! I got a call from him and he's alive!"

I shook my head. "Must be a prank call."

"No! It's true! He just called me and said that he's under where the Ink Machine. Apparently, he found it and he's trying to stop it, but he's underground!"

My jaw opened. Henry? Alive?

Impossible.

"So the point is…" said Laura.

She took a deep breath and blurted out this;

"Will you join me and rescue my dad?"

"WHAT?!" I said outrageous. "No way!"

"But Elena! He's our father!"

"Nuh-uh-uh! He's YOUR father. My father is never coming back and so is yours."

"Don't say things like that. Mine is still alive! I need to save him!"

I sighed and rubbed my head. "Ugh. Is it just me or is the Phantom Ruby infecting your mind? If you decide to go on a stupid walk to the other side of the country, do you HONESTLY think you will be able to get to him in time?!"

"Not really," said Laura with a determined look. "I must at least try. Henry must still hang on."

"I'm sorry, cousin. We won't make it in time. We can't go to San Francisco. Not on our own."

There was a sad look on Laura's face. "You're right. We can't go on our own. We need a small army to get to Henry."

I put my hands out in frustration. "What?! Do you know what I said?"

"Oh! Look!" said Laura, pointing to someone behind us. "Looks like we got out team!"

I turned around. I was surprised that Bendy was here. Including Jace, Lucy and Clyde.

"Hi there, pretty girls," said Jace.

"Hola," said Laura.

I noticed Clyde was hiding behind Lucy. He waved timidly.

"What are you doing here?" I said.

"We thought we check on you to see if you guys are OK," said Clyde.

"Laura," said Bendy. "I'm sorry about what happened to Henry."

"No need to apologize!" said Laura pointing her finger upwards. "He is still alive!"

"What?!" said Bendy.

"Henry Stein?!" said Jace and Lucy in shock.

"Hold on a second. You're saying that Henry survived the invasion?"

"Yeah!" said Laura. "And it's best if we head to San Francisco to rescue him."

"But Laura," said Clyde. "Hate to burst your bubble, but nobody survived the ink monsters back in at that city."

"But nobody KNOWS if everyone survived!" pointed out Laura with a smile. "But I do! He just gave me a call! He said that he's trapped underground, under where the Ink Machine is!"

"So that's where the ink monsters are coming from!" said Bendy.

"So you're going by yourself to save your papa and stop that machine?" said Lucy.

"I'm not doing this on my own!" said Laura. "I can't do this alone! I'm strong, but I need someone to help! I'm dedicating my life to rescue my father and saving the world from devastation. The Ink Machine. It's active. And we need to stop it! Henry is there, but he may not be able to get to the machine. If anyone is brave enough to get out there and show those monsters what they're made of, it's us!"

"'US'?!" said Bendy in disbelief.

Laura turned to Jace and Clyde. "Jace. Clyde. What can make you the most popular boys in school when you show your selfless aim of saving the world? Hello? Chances of having hot babes are out there!"

She pointed to Bendy. "And Bendy. You are my best friend! You will never leave me."

Hearing this, Bendy grinned and his tail wagged happily.

"OK," said Clyde annoyed. "That's just hurtful."

"Are you going to leave me alone on this adventure?" questioned Laura.

Bendy ran up to Laura and hopped onto her shoulders.

He smirked. "You aren't going alone, sister."

"Ha ha!" said Jace, coming over to us. "And think of all the money we can get for saving everyone!"

"And if you want anyone to heal you, who do you call?" said Laura before pointing to Lucy. "Lucy Bluebell! That's who! You are the sweetest and kindest girl of the school. You are a doctor, right? You are important as well. Even though you aren't strong, you're strong inside."

Lucy smiled in gratitude. "Thank you. I can come along."

"Now we're talking, baby," said Jace.

Lucy giggled and the two of them shared a kiss. I thought about it.

"Hmm…" I said. "I don't want to go out there…but…since you're my cousin, I want to look out for you since you're 1 month younger than me. I do wish I am a hero."

I walked over to her and stood by her side. "I guess an adventure won't hurt."

We all looked at Clyde who was the only person out.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "Did you all drank too much Shiraz? Going on a bloody suicidal mission? Count me out."

He turned the other way and crossed his arms.

"Clyde…" said Laura trying to convince him.

"I'm sorry," he said, spite in his strong Australian accent. "Money and fame won't sway me. Popularity? I don't care. Reputation? Absolutely. But all I want is to be seen as a good person and not some kind of celebrity. If you REALLY think I'm happy to sacrifice my bloody arse to some bloody zombies, then you are crazy. Give me one freaking reason why I should go with you. It's not like I'll be good use to you, so tell me what I can do. C'mon, give me the pitch."

Jace smirked. "Dude, if you aren't coming with us, you are gonna have to face douche-bag Diesel for the next few days. All. By. Your. Self."

Clyde placed a finger on his chin…and then nodded. "Good pitch…and since I rather be anywhere other than a school filled with retards, let's just say I'm no longer against coming."

The rest of the guys cheered. I chuckled a bit. Clyde gave me a look.

"One question though," said Lucy. "How are we going to get through those ink monsters AND get to San Francisco?"

Laura's smile dropped as she thought about it. "How are we going to travel to San Francisco? I know a vehicle that can get us there. How are we going to get through those monsters? I haven't thought about it. I thought of just doing parkour on the houses.

"You know that not all of us are skilled," I said nervously.

Bendy's face lit up like a light bulb. "Guys. I have the greatest idea ever made!"

* * *

**Exactly 20 minutes later…**

"This is the stupidest idea you ever made," I said as we all came out from the art room wearing EXTRA THICC BLACK SWEATERS COVERED IN BLACK PAINT, from the head to the toe.

"We're all going to die," whimpered Lucy.

"Is this REALLY the best you can do?" muffled Laura, through the jacket on her head.

"Hush," said Bendy from inside Jace's hoodie. "It will work."

"Remind me again; why do you have to climb into Jace's body and go onto his nipples?"

Silence.

"Because I want to give him the extra boobs," said Bendy bluntly.

"Oh…right," said Clyde, trying not to snicker.

"Oi," said Jace touching the 'boobs'…I mean Bendy. "Don't judge me like that. I think I look sexy with these."

At this, Clyde let out a loud laugh.

I sighed. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this disguise an 'F'."

"So what's the plan?" said Lucy.

Laura cleared her throat. "We get out of the school through the balcony. There's a stairway there that will take us to the surface. We get pass those monsters and head to Spider's house. He has a vehicle that can get to San Francisco."

"What vehicle?" asked Jace.

"You'll see."

We got to the balcony entrance to find that it was locked. And oh, Ariel and Fritz were there.

"What the…?" said Fritz when he saw us.

"Oh…my…gosh…" said Ariel. "What are you doing?"

"Are you guys trying to win America's Got Talent?" teased Fritz with a smirk.

Laura smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just that I want to find my father."

Both Ariel and Fritz looked surprised.

"Is he around here?" said Ariel.

"…yes," lied Laura. "He is taking shelter at his home. We are going there to save him."

Fritz looked reluctant. Ariel sighed.

"OK then," said Ariel. "If you are willing to risk your life for your father, then I won't stop you."

Laura smiled. "Thank you."

Ariel opened the door. We were greeted by the outside. The top of the balcony. The sun could be seen near the horizon. It was quiet out there.

"But don't die, OK?" said Ariel.

"Don't worry," promised Laura. "We won't."

We all filed out of the school. Before I could go through the entrance, Ariel grabbed my hand.

"Be careful out there," she said.

I nodded. As she let go, she closed the door. I got to see one last time the suspicious face on Fritz's.

At that moment, we were outside.

"OK," said Jace. "Everydude, act casually and stay quiet."

"Really?" said Clyde.

We all took the stairs to get down to the surface. When we got down, what we saw was horrible. There were ink monsters around. MANY of them. They were walking around like zombies. Most of them were waddling. Some of them were leaning on buildings as if they ate too much dinner. Some of them seemed to be trying to find anything to eat. A group were fighting off the remains of a rubbish bin. Others were desperately licking the ground. There were ink stains everywhere and some of the destroyed buildings.

"This is so sad," whispered Lucy.

I gulped. This was indeed sad. We walked through the monster crowd. We tried our best impression to act like them. So far, we were doing a good job as it seemed like no one took their attention on us.

"It worked!" hissed Bendy.

"Shush," said Laura.

It took us a while, but we managed to get to Spider's house. I looked at the large house in front of us. It stood out from the others. Its walls were painted blue and amazing red. The windows were rounded and there was a beautiful garden in front. Unlike the other houses, it seemed to be the only one standing.

The funny thing was that all the windows were boarded up with wooden planks.

"Heh," said Jace. "This dude always be prepared for a war or something. Now that there is some kind of war, I guess he is using his madness for his own safety."

"Let's get inside," I said.

Laura tried opening the front door, but it wouldn't budge. She tried knocking on it.

"Damn it," she said. "Spider won't open the door for us."

"Maybe we should just crawl through the windows," suggested Clyde.

"There's one," said Jace.

He was pointing to one window that wasn't boarded up…but it was two levels high. With Laura's and Jace's help, we climbed up to the building and got to the window. I was the first to touch it. To my surprise, the window opened.

"Unlocked," I said.

We all piled inside the house and into the room. Once we were all inside, Laura gingerly closed the window and locked it…twice. She wasn't going to take any chances.

I looked around the room. It seemed to be a bedroom. One for Spider, I thought. It consisted of a queen-sized bed, a large study table, a closet and a huge lava lantern that was connected to the corner of the room. It was glowing blue, giving us enough illumination for us to see. The whole floor was dumped with superhero comics, merch and sheets all over the place.

"Jeez," said Lucy as she prodded a spider-shaped pillow on the floor. "This room is so messy."

"Yeah," agreed Jace. "Just like my mum's room."

Clyde picked up something…rather odd on the floor.

"I-is that a body pillow?" he said in disgust, holding up the pillow for us to see. It had an image of an anime girl wearing futuristic clothes. **[1]**

We all took off our disguises. Bendy hopped out of Jace's hoodie. The demon saw the body pillow.

"Ooh!" said Bendy. "I like her!"

"Then have fun trying to make love with this piece of s**t," said Clyde, dropping the body pillow.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"Should we let Spider know we are here?" said Laura.

"Nah," said Jace as he headed towards the door. "I think he'll be alright if he sees us. Maybe we should give him a BIG SURPRISE!"

At this, he opened the door…greeted by Spider…holding a baseball bat.

"BEGONE, THOT!"

When Spider exclaimed the last word, he swung his bat and it hit Jace right on the face. As an impact, the white-haired boy spun around in a circle before dropping to the ground, stars dancing around his head.

Spider looked bemused. "You're not Venom…"

"Bloody hell…" muttered Clyde.

Spider looked at us. "G-Guys?"

Lucy waved. "Hi Spidey."

Spider just waved his bat at us menacingly. "Do you have any bite marks on you?"

"What?!" said Laura. "No! We are fine, see?"

Spider observed us for a while, before lowering the bat. He looked kind of…disappointed.

"Oh…" he said. "Right. I want to fight off those symbiote zombies that suddenly appeared everywhere, but I was stuck in my own home."

"Those are not from Marvel comics," Bendy said. "They are ink monsters from the Ink Machine!"

Spider looked shocked. "Ink monsters? Ink Machine?!"

Jace got up holding his head in pain. "Yeah! And the rest of the survivors are taking cover at the school!"

"…so…why are you here?"

"We're here to find Laura's father," I explained. "Henry Stein. We need your…this vehicle to get to San Francisco."

Spider's eyes widened up. "Wait. San Francisco? That's where the ink monsters come from. And…"

His face turned pale. "And that's where my brother is."

"What?" said Laura.

"Y-your brother?" I said.

"Barrett," explained Clyde, looking at me.

"Y-yes…" said Spider. "He was there because he had to go to boarding school. I…I don't know what happened there, but…but…he is still alive."

"I'm so sorry," said Lucy.

"Can you please help us?" said Jace.

Spider had a thoughtful look. He looked nervous, but then wore a cold determination. "I understand. I'll come along with you guys."

Laura smiled widely. "Really?"

"Why of course! I don't want to stand around here at home not doing something to solve this problem. I'm not going to let the world be destroyed by those ink monsters. Besides, my brother is there and he is still alive. I want to save him."

He made several poses. "It is my purpose…no, my destiny…to help you guys save Henry and stop the Ink Machine! The Mighty Spider Rocketon will kick all of their asses!"

Jace smirked. Lucy smiled.

"Are you sure about it?" I asked doubtfully.

Spider chuckled. "You underestimate the great and powerful Spider! You never heard of my heroics before? I kicked butt day and night, I trained my head off, I read a lot of superhero comics and I know what strengths and weaknesses my enemies have. I am famous on TV! I am capable of anything! The Mighty Spider is powered by all the gods and he can take down every single monster who dares to cross his path!"

He made another pose as a victory background appeared behind him…for some reason.

"Eh…what heroics?" said Bendy confused.

Spider was dumbfounded and the background behind him shattered and disappeared in a poof.

"Anyway..." said Clyde, scratching the back of his head. "Where is this...vehicle?"

Spider smirked. "Follow me."

He led us downstairs. Upon entering the ground level, I noticed that there was a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. And oh, in the kitchen oven was a large red pot.

"What are you cooking in there?" asked Bendy. "Smells good."

"Just some leftover creamy cheese soup my parents last night," Spider explained. "I was planning to eat this on my own...but I can share with a few friends."

"I can take a bowl of soup right now," said Clyde.

"Where are your parents?" asked Lucy.

A concerned look appeared on Spider's face. "I don't know. They went out for a wedding ceremony; I decided to stay home. However, I didn't know what happened to them during the ink invasion. Same goes for my brother…I just hope that he is still alright at that school."

He kicked open the door that led to the garage.

"Oh my goodness!" I said.

In the middle, we saw a futuristic car. The walls were painted in vibrant streaks of deep blue, the tires were red, there was a blue spoiler from behind, the headlights were green and there was an exhaust engine on the front hood of the car. It looked like it could fit about 8 people.

"That's so awesome, dude!" said Jace.

"Where did you get that car?" said Bendy

"I made her myself," said Spider as he patted the car. "Using an old car as a base, I gave her new parts, a slick cover and some nice gadgets. Its engine has about 200 horsepower."

"Is that the vehicle you're referring to?" I asked Laura.

"Of course, so," she replied. "I helped Spider with the engine. Let's all pile in, everyone."

"Wait, shouldn't we pack up some things before we go out there?" pointed out Clyde, stuttering a few times. "We need supplies, so that we can survive and it's not only being chased by ink monsters the only problem."

"He's right," said Laura. "We should bring along some food and any other useful devices. Anything you got Spider?"

"Yes," said Spider. All of a sudden, he crouched and held onto his groin. "But go sort that out yourselves. I need to take a piss."

He ran back inside and went upstairs. The rest of us made our way to the kitchen.

"I think we should just wait until Spider comes down," said Lucy. "I think it's wrong to just take stuff without asking."

"I think it's fine," said Jace, grabbing a bag and took the stock from one of the shelves. "It's just food, not jewels."

Bendy bent down and sniffed the oven. "Man. This smells nice."

I pinched my nose. "Well that thing smells like s**t."

"Language!"

I rolled my eyes. We just stood there in the kitchen, watching Jace stealing...eh, 'borrowing' the food from the shelves. Anything that could last forever and fill us up. I felt kind of bored, so I decided to look around the house. I took the stairs and walked through the hallways. I was surprised to see that there were many pictures on the walls. They were all bright and had golden frames. They consisted of Spider hanging around with his family.

I spotted one family picture. It showed Spider who looked younger and had brown hair. He was with his parents. His mother had brown hair tied in a braid ponytail, had green eyes and wore a pink dress. Her smile brightened up the whole picture. His father had black slick hair, blue eyes and wore a golden tuxedo. He looked at his family in pride. Next to Spider was another boy who seemed to be Spider's brother. This boy had short blonde hair with a spike in the front, green eyes and wore a gaming shirt. He was hugging Spider.

It reminded me that I barely had one of these family photos. I never took one with my parents. Especially ever since...

I shook my head in disgust.

"Don't think about that," I said to myself. "You're in Brooklyn now, Elena, so abandon your old life and live a new one."

Something caught my eye. I spotted another photo. It showed Spider – this time with blue hair – wrapping his arm around a boy with blonde wavy hair combed to the left, azure blue eyes and wore a white jacket. They looked so happy.

Reminded me of how friendless I was before.

"Wait a minute," I thought. "Why does that boy wearing that white jacket looks…familiar?"

I shook my head, not wanting to remember my past again. I saw the photo on the right; Spider hugging his mother. He looked...sad. The thing that caught my attention was that his right eye was covered up in...bandages?

I checked the dates of the picture. That last photo I saw took a few months after the photo with the blonde boy. I noticed a newspaper in a photo frame on the side. The title read 'TEENAGE FIGHT BROKE OUT IN BROOKLYN MALL'.

I spotted Spider's real name on the article. I was about to read it when a hand slammed onto the newspaper, stopping me from reading any further. I turned around to see Spider.

"What was that about?" I said.

"What?" he said, his face turning pale. "T-this? No! It's nothing! Just some old articles my father likes to frame! It's nothing really important! It's not like I'm in that article."

I gave him a look. "Terribly convincing."

He sighed in relief.

"You know that I was being sarcastic, right?" I said.

A look of fear appeared on his face. Before I could ask Spider what the newspaper was about, he quickly snatched it off the wall and THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW.

"YEET!"

SMASH!

I watched as the picture flew out and landed onto the road with a loud shatter. The glass broke into millions of pieces. Thank God none of the ink monsters saw that.

"What the hell was that about?!" I hissed.

"It's nothing!" said Spider, making a 'Mr Angel' face. "It's absolutely nothing! I meant to throw that away a long time ago!"

I sighed and looked down. "Good gosh. Not going to lie, I..."

I trailed off upon seeing that he was carrying a small black opened bag providing toiletries. There were even...makeup kits?

"Eh..." I said awkwardly. "What's with the make-up there?"

"Huh?" said Spider at first confused. Quickly, he hid it behind. "Oh. What makeup?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe it. And yet, I thought sluts wear makeup and now you. Unless you're a bastard, that's understandable."

Spider's face turned as white as a ghost. "Uh...Elena...?"

"What?"

He couldn't speak. He could only point. I looked behind. From the broken window, ink could be seen entering the house. It was little, but it didn't look good.

I glared at Spider. "You idiot."

Spider smiled sheepishly.

I took cautious steps towards the window and looked down. There was an ink trail that lead from the window to the bottom of the house. To my surprise, there were no ink monsters nearby.

"That's strange," I said. "Isn't there supposed to be-?"

I was cut off when something wrapped around my head. It felt hot and wet. I tried to scream, but my mouth was covered in a disgusting slop, muffling out my cries. I tried to pry the thing off, but it hung onto my head. I was finally freed when Spider grabbed it off and threw it to the ground.

Dazed, I wiped off the ink off my face. I looked down to see a deformed Charley-like creature on the floor. It let out a demonic scream and jumped onto me again. Spider managed to grab it, but this time, he swung it around and threw it to the bathroom. It bounced off the floor and its head hit the bowl of the toilet.

With the creature nearly losing conscious, Spider quickly ran up to it and repeatedly slammed the toilet lid on its head. He quickly looked away as he started his assault. As he did so, the creature let out a scream as ink spewed out from its head, painting the walls in black. Even though it wasn't blood, I couldn't help, but wince. I watched in shock as the creature's head was constantly smashed and cries were let out. Finally, Spider stopped, letting out heavy breathes.

"Oh...my...gosh..." I whimpered.

The creature just laid there on the toilet bowl; its head reduced to a mess. Spider was partly covered in sickening ink, but his face remained clean. His eyes shrunk and were shaking. He was trembling.

"D-Don't worry," I quickly said. "Just calm down. It's over."

He nodded but remained frightened.

The silence was once again broken when many more ink monsters went through the window, breaking off its remains. Spider and I screamed as they got in, trying to attack us.

We both ran downstairs to find the others looking at us.

"What the hell happened?!" said Laura.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"T-the Ink Monsters!" I cried. "They are here!"

A snarl could be heard from behind.

Laura clenched her hands into fists. Jace got into an attack position. Lucy hid behind him crying out in fear. Clyde cowered backwards. Bendy hid behind me.

"What are we going to do?" said Bendy.

A cold determination appeared on Spider's face. "We fight."

He marched over to a closet and opened it to reveal several home-made weapons.

"Here!" he said throwing them to us. "You need these!"

Jace was given a sharp katana. Clyde was given a baseball bat with fork spikes sticking out from the wood. I was given a gun.

"A gun?!" I said as I stared at the black weapon in disbelief.

"What's wrong?" said Jace. "Never used a gun in your life?"

I tried to make a word, but I quickly shook my head. Remembering the bad times wasn't the time at that moment.

Spider quickly jumped over a kitchen bench and grabbed out two sauce bottles. Bendy ran up to him.

"Really?!" said Clyde. "We are not playing 'Feed the Monster'!"

"Aim for the heads!" called out Bendy. "They will be instantly killed!"

And that was when the tide came in.

A large group of ink monsters ran inside. There was a mixture of deformed cartoon characters and ink humanoid monsters.

I quickly jumped to the side and rapidly pressed the trigger. Metal bullets came out, shooting the monsters' head, killing them.

Laura was fighting off the ink monsters using hand and feet. She was able to deal with many of them and seemed to be enjoying the moment.

Clyde stayed on top of a chair and swung his bat around to smash the monsters. The spikes sticking out from the bat helped him.

Jace was slicing his sword through the ink monsters. Lucy stayed behind him, placing her hands over her head. At one time, Jace did a flip and cut through one monster.

"Wow!" said Lucy. "I never knew that you are THIS strong."

Jace smirked as he cut through another monster. "Well, you just date the right guy."

Meanwhile, Spider and Bendy were shooting sauce at the monsters. Despite doing the less effort, they weren't doing the least effective. With sauce in their eyes, the ink creatures focused on the stinging pain, creating the perfect time for us to destroy them.

"F**K OFF!" yelled Spider as he shot. "F**K OFF!"

"Language!" said Bendy.

Despite our efforts, there were more ink monsters coming in. At one point, Spider ran out of sauce.

"ARGH!" he groaned. "It's dead!"

"There are too many of them!" said Jace.

A light bulb appeared on top of Spider's head. He zoomed to the oven and took out the steaming pot of yellow soup. He ran over to Bendy and dumped the ENTIRE THING ON HIM!

Bendy screamed in pain as his body came into contact with the hot creamy soup. "AHHHHH! What's going on?! Why is this so sticky?!"

Spider grabbed him and lifted him up for all of us to see. He called the ink monsters' attention.

"Mmm!" said Spider. "So good and tasty! Mmm…MMM!"

At the sight of Bendy covered in golden cheese, all the ink monsters turned and ran towards him…opening their mouths to eat him.

"OH NO, NO, NO!" screamed Bendy as the monsters came closer. "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"

Luckily, Spider gingerly stepped to the side and the ink monsters flew by. They all got caught into the still-active oven. It was such a surprise that they could all fit into ONE PIZZA OVEN.

Taking his chance, Spider slammed the door and turned up the heat; higher than any human could possibly stand.

The ink monsters roared as they slammed the door, but Spider didn't let go. They continued to roar in agony as they melted into a messy ink puddle. Once they were all dissolved, Spider turned off the oven and opened the door. A rancid smell came out.

"Pee-yew!" said Laura, blocking her nose. "That's disgusting!"

"Is this how it feels like to be in India?" said Jace.

Clyde prodded one of the ink monsters – that was reduced to an ink puddle – with his bat. "A…are they dead?"

"Seems though," I said.

He looked down in guilt. "B…but aren't they…victims of…"

"We didn't have a choice, but to protect ourselves," said Lucy sadly.

"Uh…" said Bendy. "I don't think you need to worry that they are dead…"

We looked around. The ink puddles around us started to…bubble. There was something rising from them.

I gulped. I came to the ugly truth that they could reform themselves. **[2]**

"Welp," said Spider. "They are INDEED indestructible zombies."

"Let's get out of here before they wake up," said Laura.

We all ran out of the living room and headed over to the garage. When all of us were inside, Jace locked the door and kicked down a large metal shelf, blocking the door.

"WAIT!" said Spider. "I didn't bring my Wi-Fi router along yet!"

"You have internet data on your phone, dude!" snapped Jace.

"But my phone is still upstairs as well! And my TV! And my headphones! And my underwear! And my special sandwich! "

Jace opened his mouth, only for a roar to be heard from the other side. Manic laughter could be heard as well. The door started to move.

"OK," I said. "Well that was fun."

Clyde and Lucy quickly stuffed all the supplies into the car boot.

"The question is; who is going to drive?" asked Bendy.

"I will!" said Spider, pointing a finger in the air.

Both Jace and Lucy gasped in fear. "WHAT?!"

"YOU driving?!" said Jace in disbelief.

"Oh c'mon!" said Spider. "I have driving experience before! The Mighty Spider had beaten SEVERAL car-related records before!"

"You mean when you're playing Mario Kart 8," said Jace deadpanned. "AND Need for Speed."

"Please! I am the best driver out there!"

Laura shook her head. "If so, why did I saw you playing in a kiddie one-dollar-operated car ride last week?"

Crickets.

"**I'm GoInG tO sAw ThRoUgH yOuR d***!**" yelled a gruff voice from the other side.

Immediately, Lucy jumped into the driver's seat.

"Juuuuuuuuust so that we will be safe, I will drive," she said a bit too quickly.

Jace sat on the front seat next to Lucy. "Let's go for a ride, baby."

Lucy chuckled and the two shared a kiss. Bendy opened the door to the middle seats…to see a baby passenger seat.

"You sit there!" said Spider, picking the demon up and strapping him to the baby seat.

"Hey!" said Bendy. "I'm not a baby!"

"YOU are a baby," I said bluntly.

Spider sat next to Bendy on the left while Laura sat on the right. Clyde and I took the last seats at the back.

"Wait," said Bendy as we locked the doors. "Is that a roof window?"

True to his word, there was one on the ceiling.

"Why yes," said Spider, taking out a controller.

He pressed the red button and the garage door opened up, revealing a wave of ink monsters RIGHT OUTSIDE.

"Step on it!" said Jace.

"OK!" said Lucy.

She pressed the accelerator pedal and the car drove out of the garage…only to bump into the group of monsters.

BUMP! BUMP! BUMP!

As she drove onto the road, a look of shock appeared on her face.

"What was that?" she said.

"Don't worry!" said Jace smirking. "You're doing great!"

I looked behind to see that there was an area of mangled ink monsters lying on the floor. Suddenly, Spider leapt from his feet, opened the roof window and stuck half of his body out.

"EAT MY HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGE!" he mocked at the monsters raising both middle fingers.

"GET BACK INSIDE, YOU NINCOMPOOP!" exclaimed Clyde pulling Spider back into the car and quickly closed the roof window.

* * *

**Third Person's POV, San Francisco (at 10 pm)**

Barrett and Tuesday looked up from the window nervously. They were still inside the damn boarding school and to their horror, it almost looked like there was NO WAY for them to get out.

The whole city was almost ruined. Some parts of the buildings – mostly small – were starting to come apart. The road was filled with skid-marks and cracks. There were giant craters all over the place. The whole city was nearly flooded in ink.

Ink.

That was one thing that caused the whole thing.

Last night, they saw a lot of ink that covered the whole city. It started dripping on buildings before moving close to the ground. Anyone who tried to escape would be sucked into the ink.

And then, they saw ink monsters.

Yep, INK MONSTERS.

Hundreds of them.

Thousands.

Big monsters.

Small monsters.

Fat monsters.

Skinny monsters.

Pimply monsters.

Hairy monsters.

Ugly monsters.

Beautiful monsters (don't ask them why they saw that).

Every sort of horrible, ugly and violent ink monsters you can imagine.

They started to attack anything that wasn't…their kind. They bit and their victims turned into ink monsters…like them.

Both Barrett and Tuesday saw the whole thing, making them uncomfortable; the former fainted at the sight while the latter threw up in their bathroom.

The boarding school was sent into lock-down, but it was too late. Many of the teachers were bitten, so the students were on their own. Since none of the teens knew how the building's security system worked, the ink monsters started to invade the building.

It was a miracle that Barrett and Tuesday managed to take shelter in their accommodation. They had their door and window locked. However, they noticed that they wouldn't survive long.

The internet was low.

The electricity was nearly out.

The water was scarce.

And oh, their food supply was running low.

You see, when they first got their room, they had a minibar filled with snacks. However, they didn't have enough snacks to last them for 5 days.

Barrett stood up a bit as close as he dared…until an ink monster peeked around the corner.

The two teens quickly hid behind the wall.

"Damn it," muttered Barrett. "We can't get out of here."

Tuesday shook her head and looked through the window again. "It appears that they keep coming towards the city. There seems to be barely any survivors."

"No crap."

Tuesday shrugged. "Maybe we can get out of this."

"How the hell can you say that?!" said Barrett. "The electricity's dead, the natural sources are limited and there is no one to save us!"

"I thought the military have this covered."

"MOST of the armies. But it appears that the rest of them are clogged by those monsters."

Tuesday sighed. "If this goes on, the whole world will be doomed."

Barrett shook his head. "Not really. The ink is only spreading through America. It hasn't reach any other countries yet. I just hope that there is a solution."

Tuesday placed her hand on her chin. "There must be a way out of this…"

An idea bulb appeared over her head. She whipped out her phone. OK. NOT really her phone. It was actually Barrett's phone, but he decided to let Tuesday have it for the time being.

"My phone?" said Barrett with a dry sense of humor. "Wow. That is going to help us escape."

"Not how you think!" said Tuesday. "I can just contact the police to get over here! But since the cops are fizzled out at the moment, I can call the army to save us!"

Barrett sighed, making a half smile. "Thanks for the idea. But…isn't that a bit impossible though?"

Tuesday raised an eyebrow. "You mean learning how to make a phone call?"

Barrett laughed, knowing Tuesday's similar sarcasm to his. "No, no. It's just…the whole place is totally f***ed up now. Disaster. Terror. Frightful. You name it."

"And you are rephrasing some words from that story you are making."

"I know. But it's impossible for anyone to get through THEM!"

He pointed out the window to show a group of ink monsters. They were dragging themselves through the streets. One of them miserably slumped onto the ground and laid there. Another one didn't have a sense of direction, so it stumbled to the right and fell off a bridge.

"But those ink monsters aren't conscious of anything," pointed out Tuesday. "Yes, we saw them driving in cars, but they seem to have an IQ of a crayon. The army may be able to burst through THEM."

Barrett nodded. "I…I guess so. And plus, we called Spider a few minutes ago and he said that he is coming to San Francisco to save us. I just hope that he will make it in time."

"At least we can still keep in touch as long as he is alive," said Tuesday happily. "With this phone, we'll never be lost!"

At this, she accidentally tossed the phone out of the window while gesticulating. It flew through the air before landing onto the ground with a soft 'thud'. Thankfully, this phone was the latest product of a popular phone company, so it didn't break.

But that meant that Barrett and Tuesday had no way of contacting the army…or Spider for that matter.

"Oops…" said Tuesday dumbly.

Barrett sighed. "You total klutz. Now we're stuck."

"What are we going to do, genius?"

Barrett had only one idea. "The next morning, we'll get the hell out of here. I'll collect my phone and we will find a better place to stay at. Pray that there won't be any ink monsters out in this area."

* * *

**AN: Here we are. Elena's and Bendy's group are on their way to San Francisco, Henry is trapped below and Barrett is stuck in his school. What could possibly go wrong?**

**HEAPS.**

**[1] DISCLAIMER! The body pillow there DOESN'T mean Spider does do all this...eh...'crap'. Please take in consideration that the body pillow in his room is just made for humor. Sorry SpiderDom321 if this upsets you.**

**[2] The ink monsters in 'Bendy and the Ink Machine' can easily die. But in my story, they can revive like zombies.**

**Here's some more backgrounds about the different characters in the story.**

_**Harley**** Tiffany**_** is one of the major characters who will side with Henry and (if this story is made into a movie) possibly be voiced by Naomi Scott. During the story process, I planned for Henry to have his own side story while Bendy has his own with the teens. To accompany Henry, I decided to create Harley. She is based on my English tutor as both of them have the same Indian tradition, brown skin and black hair (but Harley's hair is streaked with red). To that person in real life, you're welcome. Also, I made Liam as he plays an important part of the plot. His name is based on a blonde student I know at school.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you like this story, please**** follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of this chapter: Who do you think is responsible for causing the ink invasion and stealing the Ink Machine?**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter! **


	4. 3 - Start The Time

**AN: Here we are! Chapter 3 is here! Just to note that the car scene is inspired from car chases from 'Big Hero 6', 'Ralph Breaks The Internet' and 'Meta Runner'.**

**I want to warn you guys. Even though there were some violent parts in the last chapter, there is one certain scene that might disturb a few readers. This one will be in Liam's flashback, so please be aware of it.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Start the Time**

**?, 7:30 pm**

Henry just laid on his bed for a while. He wasn't sure what to do at that moment.

He had a lot of things on his mind.

Where was he REALLY at?

What happened to Joey Drew and the others?

What happened to San Francisco?

Was somebody using the Ink Machine?

Was Laura coming to save him?

Those questions sent a shiver down his spine.

"Hey," said Liam.

Henry looked up. Liam was holding a bowl.

"Eat."

Henry slowly took the bowl. A bowl of bacon soup. The salty smell made his stomach sick. He remembered back in the haunted studio when he had to drink bacon soup for food. It didn't taste bad, but Henry felt pretty unwell from drinking it. Still, he needed something to eat.

Henry slowly drank his soup. It tasted bland to him.

"So what do we do now?" said Harley.

"I don't know," said Liam grimly. "Maybe we can be stuck here for the next twenty years."

Henry shook his head and stood up. He didn't want to stay in a tiny room while somebody was using the Ink Machine as a weapon of destruction. There was something he needed to do.

"Let's go out," he said.

Harley and Liam looked at him. "What?!"

"We can't stay here for long," said Henry. "We need to get up there and stop whoever is doing this."

"No!" said Harley. "That is crazy! Outside there is a one way ticket to death! And nobody can survive that!"

"And you're just going to sit there and do NOTHING about it?"

"We are just normal people! There are a lot of normal people out there! Some of them died already! Some of them already escaped the infected areas!"

"More people will be killed. We got to do something. We are close to the source of the problem."

"You don't know that for sure."

"No, but if I know, I know that Joey wouldn't want us to just 'live our normal lives' while the rest of the world dies for damned sake!"

"But he isn't here now, is he?"

There was a tense silence between the two adults.

Henry sighed.

"Waste of time," he spat as he started to walk towards the door. "If you don't want to come, then I will drag my ass to that machine."

Harley quickly blocked him. "You aren't going anywhere."

"Just please. I just want to end all of this."

Harley sighed. "It's just that…I'm worried about what will happen to you. I couldn't take the thought of you being killed. I'm just…scared. I don't know what lurks out there, but it's not good. Trust me."

Henry placed a hand on her shoulder. "I will be fine."

There was a glimmer in her eyes, but she shook it off. "You know what, I'll come with you."

This surprised Henry. He slowly nodded.

"Here," said Liam, tossing Henry a pair of shiny black boots.

Henry stared at the boots. "What are these for?"

"It's to protect your feet from the ink," explained Liam. "Especially in floods."

Henry nodded. He opened the door. He was greeted by a long dark hallway that was made from yellow wood. There was ink dripping from the ceiling.

Henry was the first to step out. Then Harley. Then Liam.

"Wait," said Harley. "Liam…"

"I'll be fine," said the teen. "I rather join you two than sit in an empty room all by myself."

Harley sighed. "Just please stick with us."

Henry turned to them. "By the way, while we head to the machine, can you tell me what happened? I mean…from the BEGINNING. I want to know what caused all of this."

Harley and Liam looked at each other. Liam sighed.

"OK then," he said.

* * *

**Elena's POV, New York**

"Ow…ow…ow…OW!" yelled Clyde as I finally got the rubber band out from his hair.

"Whoops," I said as I saw the ripped lines of black hair. "Sorry."

"Urgh," groaned Clyde as he rubbed the back of his hair. "Does this always happen when I try to untie my hair?"

I shrugged. Clyde huffed and ran his hand through his long hair. It was groomed to the right, but some parts of the hair were spiked upwards like an anime character. It still looked good on him.

"If one more hair string breaks," he said, taking out a broken string from his hair. "I'm going to flip."

Bendy turned to us. "I wonder why you peeps like to color your hair."

I gave him a look.

Spider pushed his hair back. "I thought my hair would look nice."

Laura chuckled. "I thought having pink streaks would be cool."

"Uh…" said Clyde, stroking his purple streak. "It looks…awesome?"

Wait…purple?

"Hang on a second," I said, pointing to Clyde's hair. "Wasn't that stripe on your hair purple before? Wasn't it…?"

"Well, Lucy is the only one who has the good idea," said Bendy.

"Hey," said Lucy as she turned onto the streets of New York. "Jace's hair is natural."

"W-what?!" said Jace. "No, no, no! I bleached it!"

Bendy smirked. "Why would you and Elena bleach your hair white? You two look old."

"Shut up."

I looked out of the window. It was horrible. The whole city was dead. It was deserted and dull. There were just black puddles everywhere and ink monsters dragging themselves in different directions. There were destroyed buildings, huge cracks on the ground and giant craters.

"Wow," said Lucy, looking around. "The traffic is heavy here."

"Yeah," I said gloomily. "No crap."

"Let's play a game, shall we?" said Bendy sarcastically as he looked at the scene in despair. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'I'."

"Ooh!" said Lucy smiling. "That's a fun game!"

"Let's see…" said Spider, looking outside. "Igloo?"

"No," said Bendy bluntly.

"Ice cream?"

"No."

"Iceberg?"

"No."

"Infant?"

"No."

"Inhaler?"

"No."

"Idol?"

"Not even close."

"It's ink," winced Laura. "There is so much ink…"

I noticed that Bendy looked…depressed.

"I can't believe that the Ink Machine is running again," said Bendy. "None of this would have happened if Henry sold it to San Francisco."

"Don't worry," said Laura. "I'm sure that we will be alright. It wasn't Henry's fault."

Bendy nodded solemnly.

"Uh…" said Jace. "Dudes?"

"What?" said Spider.

"Look."

As Lucy turned to the left, we saw that ahead of us was a large group of ink monsters.

"That's strange," said Lucy. "They're blocking the road."

That was when the ink monsters noticed us. They let out horrible screeches and started running to the speeding car.

"Oh no," said Lucy. "What do we do?"

"Just go through them," said Jace.

"Hell no!" I said. "That's a bad idea!"

"But they're made from ink!" said Jace.

"I'm not comfortable about this…" said Lucy.

"Just don't stop and look away. Keep on going!"

I watched in horror as we came closer to the ink monsters. And then…

SPLAT! CRUSH! CRUNCH! KRRRRRK!

We made it to the other side by mowing through the monsters. I opened my eyes. The front window was covered in ink and there was a cartoon mutant who got its face stuck on it.

Jace had an exasperated look. He pressed a button and the windshield wiped the critter off.

"That went well," said Spider smiling.

"It's such a shame that those poor people turned into monsters," said Lucy sadly. "Hopefully, we can fix it."

"Just get us out of here before anymore monsters attack us," said Bendy.

"OK!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Clyde and I looked behind. I gasped.

"Crikey..." said Clyde.

Behind us was a speeding blue truck. It was dented and covered in ink. It was speeding on the road smashing into other cars, flipping them on the side. There were three ink monsters sitting in the seats with one in the driver's seat. They were letting out angry roars of hatred, looking at us.

COMING TO KILL US.

"G-guys?" I said.

The others looked behind.

"Are you kidding me?!" said Laura. "They can DRIVE?!"

"They are still human!" said Bendy. "Yes, they may act as savages, but they still have the skills to use anything!"

"We have to lose them!" said Jace.

"Hold on, everyone!" called Lucy, cranking up the lever.

The car picked up speed. Lucy hit the pedals hard. I felt my back hitting the seat hardly due to the powerful forces. I looked behind to see the truck following us. The monsters were letting out loud screeches. They threw massive balls of ink, firing at us.

SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

The car was bombarded by the messy ink. Luckily, it didn't break the car, but it was covering up the windows. The front one was a problem as Jace desperately tried to get the windshield to work. That window was nearly covered up in ink. At one point, an ink ball came flying towards us that it hit one of the car's side mirrors.

HARD.

BANG!

We all screamed as the mirror came off.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Spider. "I just got those fixed last week. Now, I'm pissed!"

We came across a corner.

"TURN LEFT!" instructed Laura.

Lucy did a hard left, causing Spider's face to smack onto the window beside him. Bendy looked behind to see the pursuing monsters.

"Dang," he said. "Those monsters are bloodthirsty."

"Yep," said Clyde. "They are bloody vicious."

"Language!"

"Sorry."

All of a sudden, Lucy stopped.

"Why did we stop?" said Jace.

"The lights red!" said Lucy, looking up at the traffic lights nervously.

"THERE ARE **NO** RED LIGHTS IN A **CAR CHASE!**" screamed Bendy.

The lights turned green. Lucy stepped on the pedal. Just in time. As soon as the car zoomed off, the truck nearly hit us.

"Why are they trying to kill us?" said Lucy as we sped off. "We didn't do anything!"

She drove down a hill, away from the monsters. They were way behind so we couldn't see them from the high point.

"They are ink monsters!" said Bendy. "They don't have any sympathy for anyone, but themselves and nobody else! You know what they did out there!"

Spider threw his hands in the air. "Oh, for God's sake. Everybody, just CHILL."

"How can you CHILL in a situation like THIS, dude?!" growled Jace through his sharp teeth.

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions," said Spider. "Maybe they just want to play with us. We don't KNOW if they're trying to kill us!"

"CAR!" I screamed.

From behind, I saw a car being thrown into the air. Must be from the monsters. It was FLYING TOWARDS US.

"THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL US!" screamed Spider.

SMASH!

The car smashed onto the road, narrowly crashed into us. We were lucky that we were still alive.

Laura instructed Lucy to take another left. This time, she made the left front light to blink.

"What?!" said Bendy in disbelief. "Did you put your blinkers on?"

"You have to indicate your every turn!" said Lucy. "It's the LAW!"

We approached another traffic lights where a seemingly elderly ink monster was crossing. It had its back cracked in a gross way and its lips were pouted. It was walking across the zebra-line crossing using a stick to help it walk properly.

And then, the expected happened.

Lucy stopped the car.

"What the hell are you doing?!" yelled Laura. "GO!"

"Language!" said Bendy.

"B-but the lights red," said Lucy worriedly.

"Who even cares?! We are in a POST-APOCALYPSE WORLD and law DOESN'T matter now. Including being ATTACKED by monsters! There is NO ONE here to call us out for this! Including the GOVERNMENT and the POLICE!"

"I'm…I'm sorry. I need to respect the law."

Roars from the monsters could be heard far away.

"Hurry up!" said Clyde. "Just press the freaking pedal NOW!"

"But that old man is crossing the road!" protested Lucy.

"He's dead already!" snarled Bendy. "He's an ink monster. He can revive after being hit!"

"But…but…but…but…"

"C'mon, babe," said Jace calmly. "He will be alright. Besides, have you seen how people play games like Grand Theft Auto and Need for Speed before?"

"Oh yeah!" said Lucy cheerfully. "I played these games before AND I stop at the traffic lights in those games too!"

My eye twitched.

I looked behind. The only thing moving across the road were the wheels of the damn truck.

"JUST GET OUR ASSES OVER THOSE DAMN LIGHTS NOW!" I yelled. "WE ARE GOING TO DIE SOON!"

"But I can't go over the red lights!" said Lucy. "It's the LAW!"

Bendy gritted his teeth. "That. IS. **IT.**"

He leapt from his seat and pushed Lucy aside. The latter squealed in surprise as she hopped onto Jace's lap. Bendy got into the driver's seat. Despite being small, his feet were able to reach the pedals.

He pressed the accelerator pedal.

VROOM!

CHOW!

The car drove off in a blazing speed, crushing the unfortunate elderly man in the process.

"Well that was some bad s**t," said Laura shocked.

"What are you doing?!" said Lucy.

"Saving your life!" laughed Bendy.

With him in control, we were in a simulated Mario go-kart. Bendy thrust the car and turned right…while doing a drift. Lucy screamed. Spider whooped in joy.

Recklessly, Bendy drove up a hill and spotted a nearby bridge. Using the hill as a ramp, he put the car to the highest speed causing the car to fly upwards and landed onto the bridge perfectly. He continued to drive.

"Please stop!" said Lucy. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

"Calm down ya tiddys," said Bendy.

"Wha-hoo!" said Spider. "This is the best car ride ever!"

"They are still chasing us!" I said.

I saw behind us that the truck was still following us. At one point, Bendy reached a tunnel. The whole tunnel was a mess. Many cars were stranded there, left to make a mess.

"Hold on, guys!" announced Bendy. "This will be bumpy!"

Picking up speed, Bendy was able to dodge anything that blocked our path. He was able to turn and drift around and through the broken cars. He even drove backwards at once! Meanwhile, the truck just drove through the obstacles, destroying anything in its path. This caused damage to the vehicle, but its engine seemed to be fine.

We made it through the tunnel, however we came across a large pile of rubble. There were broken debris and cars everywhere at that area. Everything was on...

"ARGH!" screamed Lucy. "Fire!"

True to her word, they were on fire. The red-orange flames were shooting out from the rubble, letting out big black smokes.

"I don't see another way around!" said Laura.

"Hold on, everybody!" called Bendy.

He drove onto the left. He was driving the car to the front of a...

...a speed check board. It was one of those boards that could go on wheels and movable on roads.

"WAIT!" exclaimed Clyde panicking. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Let's a go!" said Bendy gleefully.

"OH NO, NO, NO, NO!" screamed Lucy, breaking into a cold sweat.

Everyone pleaded for Bendy to stop, but it was already too late. The car hit the board, causing the board to tip over; making a makeshift ramp. The car managed to drive over the 'ramp' and soared through the air. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as we flew over the burning rubble.

I just watched in fear.

Laura and Clyde held onto their seat-belts in order not to fall out.

Lucy was hugging Jace for protection.

Bendy had an evil grin on his face.

Spider? Well...

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" he said cheerfully.

After what seemed to be an hour, everything went back to normal and the car managed to land safely on the other side, continued to drive on.

I looked behind to see the truck. It smashed into the rubble causing a huge explosion of fire and ink.

And then...silence.

"THAT...WAS...AWESOME!" said Spider. "Again! The best car ride ever."

"Is everyone OK?" said Bendy, checking on us.

"I'm alright, dude," said Jace smiling.

"I'm...not..." whimpered Lucy.

Bendy checked on Laura using the mirrors.

"Laura?" said Bendy. "Your face is changing color..."

"That...was...radical..." was all Laura could blurt out before she stuck her head through the window and...

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAARF!"

Clyde blocked his nose in disgust.

"Welp," I said, smiling nervously. "At least we survived."

Bendy turned around the corner. There was a sign there saying that we were close to the exit of the city. However, his smile dropped.

"Uh oh," he said.

"What?" said Laura after puking.

We saw that the street we were heading to was deserted. On top of the buildings were cranes controlled by ink monsters.

And oh, those cranes were carrying LARGE BLACK BALLS.

"What the...?" said Jace.

"ARE THOSE WRECKING BALLS?!" said Spider.

"You GOT to be kidding me," I said.

The ink monsters let out loud screeches that somehow shook the entire city. I covered my eyes, so that they wouldn't bleed. That was the least of my problems. As we got closer, the wrecking balls started swinging dangerously. Within seconds, they moved at a high-speed rate.

"Oh no..." said Bendy.

A loud roar could be heard from behind. I looked behind to see a fresh wave of ink monsters running to us.

"Humbug," I said. "We gotta get out of here!"

Bendy hit the pedal and the car was off in a jiffy. He tried to get through the wrecking balls by turning and drifting, but those balls managed to get a hit on the car.

BANG!

"ARGH!" screamed Lucy.

"Keep on going!" said Laura.

BANG!

"This is too dangerous!" said Jace.

"Hold on, everyone!" said Bendy.

With confidence, Bendy turned the lever up to the highest level causing the car to go faster. This time, he managed to get through the wrecking balls. I looked behind to see the ink monsters still running towards us. Some of them were hit by the wrecking balls, but they didn't seem to be bothered by that.

"They're still after us!" said Clyde.

"WATCH OUT!" screamed Laura pointing at something.

There was a wrecking ball flying towards us...and Bendy didn't have the time to steer.

BANG!

As soon as the ball came into contact with the car, the car went flying into the air. We all screamed as the car flew through the air, over a bridge and landed heavily onto another road. The car managed to land on its wheels, but it was spinning out of control. Eventually, it crashed into a broken building causing it to stop.

Everything went silent.

BANG!

Smoke could be seen coming out from the exhaust engine.

"Oh no..." said Bendy in dread.

"My..." said Spider in shock. "My car...my beautiful car!"

A low growl could be heard from far away. We all looked behind. There in the distance was an army of ink monsters.

"**IiIiIiIiIi'M aBoUt To **lick **SoMeBoDy'S aSs!" **said one of the ink monsters in a creepy monotone voice.

We were stuck.

"F*** me," I said.

"Language!" said Bendy.

All of the ink monsters let out a blood-curdling screech.

"**REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**

They all charged towards us. Gulping, Spider leaned to the right front door and pressed the button on it. We could hear the doors locking. At this, the monsters came towards us and started to bang onto the car. They were pounding the walls and the windows with their fists and teeth. The whole car trembled violently.

"I...don't...like...this...at...all..." I said as all of us moved sideways due to the monsters rocking the car back and forth.

"Heeeeeeeey!" said Spider smiling. "This is actually fun!"

"You call this fun, dude?" said Jace in disgust.

"What are we going to do?" said Lucy as she squeezed Jace in a hug.

"Don't worry," said Laura. "This car is made from triple steel and bullet-proof glass, so we will be fine."

A large bulge from the wall appeared beside her.

"But what are we going to do?" said Jace gruffly. "We can't just sit here until we die from starvation."

"OR if they die from starvation," Bendy pointed out.

I sighed. This was a disaster. At that moment, I knew I should have just stayed put at the school. We were cornered and about to be ripped apart. Unless there was somebody there to save us.

I saw Spider facing me, holding his blue phone at me.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"I'm recording this," said Spider smiling. "It's going to be a hit on Instagram. It's pretty rare to be around zombies."

I face palmed. "Really?"

Spider turned to Clyde. The latter playfully stuck out his tongue at the camera.

SNIPE!

Suddenly, a bullet hit one of the monster's head. It let out a small cry before dropping to the floor, its head melting. The ink monsters stopped and looked at the shot monster in confusion.

"HEY!" called a familiar voice.

We all looked up to see a figure on a small house.

I spoke too soon.

It was Sven. Except that he was wearing a black Special Forces beret and wielding a sniper rifle.

He spun the rifle in a circle before aiming at the monsters. He shot at all the monsters' heads, killing them in an instant. We all watched in awe as he shot all of them down flawlessly.

Once he was done, he jumped down and landed onto the pavement. He came towards us.

"OK," he said. "You may all come out! The coast is clear!"

We all slowly got out from the car and stared at Sven shocked.

"Hey there losers," he said smirking. "Don't you even know how to fight?"

"We would have been bitten," said Laura blankly.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Lucy.

"You think I would miss out on all the fun, DIDN'T you?" said Sven his hands on his hips.

"You DID miss the whole 'waking up, running away from zombies, taking shelter at school, sneaking out of school, hiding at Spider's house, fighting a horde of monsters and driving through the city' part," said Clyde sarcastically.

"And I see that the creative Clyde, Bendy the Dancing Demon and the sexy Elena came along with you lot. How delightful."

"But what are YOU doing here, dude?" asked Spider.

"Well...ask...HIM."

Sven moved out of the way to reveal three people coming up to us. We all gasped. It was the Black Skulls.

Draco had two daggers attached to his belt and wore a black skull mouth bandanna over his mouth. Alissa and Damien followed behind; the former wearing a black beanie and wielding a sledgehammer, while the latter wore a black hat and carried a medium-sized flamethrower.

Draco walked towards us while Alissa and Damien stood next to Sven obediently.

"D-Draco?" stuttered Laura.

Draco peeled off his bandanna to reveal that he was frowning. "Hey, guys. I'm...not in a good mood. So...get everything you need from the damn car and come along with us."

"You were out in the city all along?" I said.

"Well I live near the city so...yeah. I was just working out at my house when Alissa came over to help me with an assignment. Damien came in later since he forgot to pick up something. That was when Sven came barging in, telling us about those...things. We hid in the basement in which...that was the most disappointing thing we did."

When he said that last sentence, he glared at his group. Alissa looked down in shame. Sven inhaled sharply. Damien just had a stoic stony expression.

"When we got out," continued Draco. "The whole place was a mess. I mean, LITERALLY. We decided to head out and find for any survivors. Is there...by any chance...is the school alright?"

"Most of the students managed to escape the ink monsters along with the other civilians," explained Lucy. "The military army should be at the school to pick them up by now."

Draco sighed in relief. "Thank you, God. I thought everyone was a goner. But why are YOU out here? You guys live near the school so you would be rescued by the army."

Bendy nervously played with his tail. I rubbed the back of my head.

"Well..." I said. "We...we called a few friends to come with us...we are...trying to get to San Francisco so that...we can rescue..."

I trailed off.

"We want to rescue Henry Stein," Bendy said, finishing my sentence.

The Black Skulls were flabbergasted.

"Henry Stein?" said Draco. "You mean...the cartoonist who made Bendy?"

"More than that!" said Laura, finally speaking out. "He's my father!"

Sven gasped.

"Uh..." said Alissa, staring at him annoyed. "HELLO?! We all know that SHE is Henry's DAUGHTER!"

"Oh," said Sven, trying to laugh it off. "Right. I was doing that for drama."

"Wait," said Damien. "You - a member of the school council – decided to risk your life by grabbing a bunch of misfits and running through an ink monster-infected world with no safety devices all just to save ONE MAN?"

"...we have the car!" said Spider grinning.

POW!

One of the car's lights exploded.

Damien scoffed coldly. "Disappointing."

"It's not!" said Laura. "My mother and sister were killed back there. I just need to find my father."

Sven sneered. "What a waste of time. Why would you endanger your sorry butt for an old man who is on the other side of the country? Pathetic."

"Besides," said Damien apathetic. "Don't you know what you are doing is stupid? You won't be able to get to him in time, so stop doing all that s**t."

"Oh, **SHUT UP**, you sick people!" hissed Bendy. "Both of you! Mind your language as well! We are trying to save someone important to us and you're saying we should GIVE THEM UP?! I wouldn't be here if Henry never existed. How about we make you see YOUR family dies and see how YOU like it?!"

Sven and Damien were taken aback. I looked at the others. Bendy had his arms crossed. Spider looked like he saw something offensive. Jace had his hand over his mouth. Lucy looked down as if she was going to cry. Clyde had a sad look. Draco was shocked. Alissa looked concerned.

Sven and Damien got a good look at Laura. Her face was in pain, shame and sorrow. There were tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Her mouth was trembling.

"We're sorry..." whispered Damien with a regretful look in his eyes. Sven just looked down in guilt.

Laura just waved her hand at them showing that she didn't need an apology. She quickly wiped away her tears.

"It's...it's just that I don't want to lose my father," she said. "Especially if he gets PERMANENTLY killed by the ink monsters."

"Yeah," said Spider sadly. "And besides, my brother is there. Barrett. He is stuck there. If we don't do something, he will be killed along with Henry."

"Sorry for any trouble," said Clyde softly.

Draco shook his head, snapping out of his shock. "No, no, no. You don't need to apologize. Don't be so pitiful...but I respect your selfless journey."

Laura sniffed. "Thank you."

Spider smiled.

"Wait, you do?" I said surprised.

"I get it," said Draco smiling warmly. He gestured his group to stand by his side. "Friends and family mean EVERYTHING to me. That's how I formed the Black Skulls. Right, guys?"

"Yeah," said Alissa chuckling slightly. "We're like FAMILY."

"I like to help you guys. I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"How about WE help you to travel to San Francisco?"

Laura smiled. "Really?"

"Why, of course! What kind of a benevolent leader would I be if I help fellow people in need? I got a vehicle which can bring us to the Golden Gate Bridge. It is enough to fit a LOT of people. Besides, it's where the Ink Machine at, so we may be able to shut it down for good. What do you say?"

Laura nodded. "Sure."

"Great."

"Hold on a minute," said Jace. "I don't mean to be rude, but we are going to get help from THEM?"

"What's wrong?" said Bendy. "These guys are cool."

"It's just that...isn't it wrong for people SO superior like THEM to help us? I say that we go on our own, so that we can be the REAL heroes." **[1]**

Lucy sighed. "What he said. Not really. It's just that the Black Skulls are a bit of a bad influence." **[1]**

Draco laughed. "Really? Listen, lady. Appearances are NOT important to an individual. We may be intimidating, but we are helpful."

"Yeah," said Alissa, looking at Jace. "And how are you going to get to the other side of the country? You may if you know how to repair that old wreck."

As if on cue, one of the car's tires went flat causing the car to slightly sink down. Sven snickered at that snarky remark. Spider glared at Sven.

Clyde gave Jace a look. "Just suck it up, Octoson. We are on a rescue mission. Not some kind of 'being awesome' mission. And if these guys can help us, just accept it."

Jace growled. "Fine."

Spider clapped his hands together and made several poses. "WHOO! Alright! The Might Spider and his friends are joined by the famous Black Skulls. Together, their power doubles as awesomeness! Together, our mission is to TAKE DOWN THE SUPER EVIL INK MACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! We will get everyone safe in the sheets at night, baby!"

Crickets.

"Spider…" said Alissa disturbed. "You're acting SO creepy now."

"Wait a minute," said Spider dumbly. "Let me try that again."

A low bubbling noise could be heard. We looked down. The ink puddles that came from the ink monsters started bubbling. Bulges could be seen slowly coming out.

"Oh no," said Lucy.

"We can't stay here for any longer," said Jace. "We got to go!"

At this, we all ran off. Fortunately, Jace and Laura grabbed the supplies from the car and followed us. Draco led us through the alley to get onto another road. We all stopped seeing something in the middle of the road.

"WHOA!" Bendy, Laura, Jace, Lucy, Clyde and I said in unison.

It was a large bus all painted in black. It was decorated with golden ingots and had spikes on the sides. The front hood had an exhaust engine along with three exhaust pipes on each side of the bus.

"Oh my gosh," said Spider in awe. "That's awesome!"

"I call it…" said Draco. "The 'Gold Strap'! A 'tough-as-nails' vehicle that can even survive a nuke bombing war!"

"…I think you need an addition," said Bendy.

Alissa, Damien and Sven looked at the demon. "ADDITION?!"

To answer that, Bendy picked up a nearby paintbrush and a bucket of black paint. He ran over to the bus and within moments, he added a rather…odd decoration to the bus. The front windows had eyes representing Bendy's eyes while the front of the bus had a mustache and a toothy grin.

I face palmed. "Really, Bendy?"

Clyde took a quick photo of the bus with his phone.

Yelling could be heard from behind us.

"Let's just go in," said Draco.

"You are taking the paint off once we get the hell out of New York, Bendy," grumbled Damien.

"Language!" said Bendy.

We all got in and Draco closed the door. Just in time. The monsters started to bang onto the sides of the bus, but it refused to break.

"OK," said Draco. "Everybody calm down. And please take off your shoes at the seating area."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"To keep the floor clean," said Clyde. "That's kind of common for anyone who doesn't have a Western, British or Australian culture."

"Right."

We all took off our shoes and placed them on a shelf. I was the first one to enter the seating area...

…or at least what was CALLED the 'seating' area.

"Why are there BEANBAGS everywhere?" I said.

"Whoops," said Damien, scratching the back of his head. "My fault. Sorry…"

"Eventually, he forgot to put in the chairs," explained Sven. "So, we decided to toss in some beanbags."

"Are there at least ANY seat-belts?" asked Lucy.

"Nah," said Alissa. "Just hold onto the sides."

"Uh…" said Laura looking up, her eyes widened. "What…is…that?"

We all looked at where she was pointing at. At the back of the bus was a tall and muscular man. He had brown skin, amber eyes and had a buzz shave. He was wearing an opened black leather vest, black ripped jeans and black boots with red lines.

"Oh," said Draco. "You mean this guy? That's Pitbull. He is our muscle and the oldest of all of us."

Both Laura's and Lucy's faces turned white. They were silent for a while before they moaned in fear and dropped to the floor.

THUMP! THUMP!

"Now I want to be as strong as he is," said Jace in envy.

"He IS kind of scary," said Bendy to Clyde.

"Yeah, no crap," whispered Clyde nervously.

I sighed as I pulled Laura onto one pile of beanbags, letting her rest. Jace got Lucy onto another pile of beanbags and he happily slept with her.

"For some reason," I thought. "I feel like they are more than lovers."

"Alright," said Draco. "Damien, you're on driving duty for tonight."

"Got it," said Damien, heading over to the driver's seat.

"Get all the rest you need, everyone," said Draco. "Tomorrow, we need to keep our eyes open."

I looked on the side to see Sven flirting at Alissa.

"So you want to sleep together?" said Sven in a seductive voice.

Alissa backed away uncomfortably. "How many times do I have to tell you? Do you know that what you are doing is UNNATURAL?"

"Well I like to sleep next to anything with a pulse…låt oss göra natten bra, baby…" **[2]**

('Låt oss göra natten bra' means 'let's make the night good' in Swedish)

THUNK!

Alissa raised her leg, kicking Sven in the groin. Sven let out a girlish scream before collapsing onto the ground. Alissa shook her head and walked over to an isolated pile of beanbags, took off her beanie and ran her hand through her purple hair.

I shook my head. "I know this feeling…wait. No. I shouldn't be thinking about it. No more about the past."

I saw Spider who was holding up his phone, recording Alissa's attack.

"This is going to be a riot on Twitter!" he said.

I looked over to see Draco sitting next to Clyde. Draco asked Clyde about how he felt about the situation. Clyde sighed and pushed aside his front fringe that was covering his eye before talking.

"Hey," said Bendy, sitting down with me.

I looked at him. "Oh…hi."

"You haven't taken off your shades."

I looked away. "So?"

"You don't have to keep wearing them."

I just sighed and laid my head on the pillows. At this, I heard the roar of the bus's engine as Damien started it off. I caught a glimpse of Spider looking at me before I closed my eyes and let my mind wandered off into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Third Person's POV, ?**

"Before I start," said Liam. "You might know that I was once Laura's classmate, right?"

Henry halted. "What? You…you know Laura? My daughter?"

Liam rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I was once at her school. Didn't she tell you about me?"

Henry shook his head. "She…she didn't. She never tells me what's happening at school, saying that she doesn't want anyone to worry. I barely know what she does there. She always keeps her secrets in files and throw them in the locker bay."

Liam sighed. "Oh well. First, I..."

"Guys," said Harley stopping them.

The three stopped. They saw a light shining from the turn of the hallway. There was a shadow representing show kind of sickly monster.

"What the…?" said Liam.

"Oh no," said Henry, realizing what that meant.

He looked around wildly. They had to hide somewhere. They didn't know what that creature was, but it was up to no good. If it saw them, they would be dead meat. And running away would be out of the question. They were already far away from the room they were in and who knew what could be there already.

Henry saw near them was a small outhouse. The front wooden door is printed with a halo drawn in ink and has a 'Little Miracle Station' sign on top.

Henry spotted a Little Miracle Station. "Quick! In there!"

He pulled both Harley and Liam into the station and closed the door. He locked it and waited for the monster to come.

And waited.

And waited.

There was nothing.

Henry stood up and looked through the mini window…only to see the demon coming.

He flinched and took a backwards. Harley covered his mouth as a gesture to stay quiet. From the mini window on the door, they saw the Ink Demon, hissing and its crooked smile twitching.

Henry nearly barfed seeing the creature. Its ears were twitching sideways and nearly in the shape of a bat's ear. The spine appeared very crooked and there were spiky spines on it, making it looked like it hadn't eaten anything for 10 years. To put it simple, this creature is very terrible.

The most eerie thing about the demon was that…it was…muttering something. That didn't feel right for Henry. The last time he encountered it back at the studio, it could only talk in snarls and roars. Hearing the voice of the Ink Demon sent a shiver down his spine.

"**FeE fI fO fUm…**" it whispered in a Venom-wise voice. "…**I sMeLl Of ThReE mEn…**"

"Well we have a woman with us…" grumbled Liam.

"Shush!" hissed Harley.

The three humans sweated as the demon looked around. They felt their hearts beating loudly, their head sweating and adrenaline running through their veins. Henry held onto his breath for a long time.

After what seemed to be days and when Henry nearly passed out, the demon left. Once it was out of sight and its departing footsteps faded out, Henry sighed and opened the door.

"That was close," said Henry. "TOO close."

He spotted something coming close. Sighing reluctantly, he closed the door. Another hideous ink monster appeared. It was sickening. It had its tongue chopped off, the head was wide opened to show the raw brain and its chest was opened, revealing the guts. This time, it hung around the Little Miracle Station, unaware of the voices inside the locked outhouse.

"Geez," said Henry. "They are terribly busy. Who made those damn beasts?"

Liam sighed. "As much as I want to deny it…it was my brother's doing."

Henry looked at the blonde teen in shock. "What?!"

Harley looked down. "…we believe that…"

Liam had a faraway look in his eyes. "Whatever he did…it's all his fault. His name is…Mitchell. Mitchell…he is my twin brother. He…he had hurt a lot of people…and I wished I could have stop him. He was the cause of all of this, but I do not know where he is now. Maybe…maybe he is dead. Maybe the Ink Machine AND that pentagram are going out of control."

"Why did he do it?" said Henry.

Liam looked down. "I will tell you about it…I will start at the beginning…but please…no matter what…don't judge me. It will be like one of those days of how I wonder why I always get things like that. Why bad things always get in my way. I've done nothing wrong to get them. No matter how hard I tried to be strong…it's not enough. My brother feels the same way as well and he lost his mind. He couldn't control himself. The reason why I didn't lose myself is because I have hope that I may be successful one day…it's nice for God to be proud of me."

Henry frowned. "…what do you mean that you did all of this? It sounds like you are blaming yourself."

"…I'm like my brother. We…we both have the same personality and the same feelings. However…I'm not like Mitchell…but I just had a part to play…"

After a while, the monster left.

"It's gone," said Henry.

"We should find some weapons before we go deeper," said Harley. "Who knows what lurks out there."

Liam opened the door. "I will tell you the beginning. The VERY beginning."

As he said so, an imaginary light flashed over everyone's eyes as he opened the door.

* * *

**Liam's POV, Many years ago…**

_Have you ever wonder what you did wrong in the first place?_

_Why you always get these bad things in your life?_

_I'm trying to find that answer myself, but it never came to me._

_Or maybe I found it a bit too late._

_Funny thing; I remembered my entire life. Not everyone remembers their childhood, but I have the memory of an elephant, so I even know what I had for breakfast two months ago._

_Mitchell and I were born from the same mother. We were both born at the same time. We had the same hair, skin and eye color._

_I remembered seeing my mother's blue eyes for the first time…warm…kind…beautiful._

_Every wonderful word you can describe her._

_She even got this beautiful necklace. It was a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pink jewel hanging at the end._

_Mitchell and I lived with our parents in a good home in Canada. Even though we didn't have enough money, I was happy that we were a family._

_Mitchell and I were the best twin brothers in the world, even best friends! We talked together, we ate together, we danced together and we laughed together. Such a pity that I remember the good times…_

_As toddlers, our parents gave out the best support they could to us. Not by toys. By love. When we did something good, they praised us. I felt happiness and warmth in my heart._

_However, something happened._

_One night, during our 5th_ _birthday, we were drawing some doodles. As smart kids, we knew how to draw well, making our pictures realistic. We heard Mum coming in, so we went to see her. At first, we thought that she brought us a good cake, but…there was nothing on her._

_LITERALLY nothing._

_Only sadness…in her blue eyes._

_She dropped to the floor and started to bawl her eyes out. Feeling sorry for her, both of us tried to comfort her. We noticed that Dad wasn't with her, so we asked her what happened. She only told us that he had to stay overnight at someone's house for a group project, but that was a lie. When I was older, I found a newspaper report showing what REALLY happened to him._

_Dad…Dad wanted to fit in the crowd. When he was a young boy, he hardly had any friends and wanted to join them. But nobody accepted him and he wasn't interested in what they were doing. Even though he loved Mum so much, he still felt lonely and wanted to have friends._

_He heard about this 'school anniversary party' happening somewhere. There were going to be music, games and a lot of drinks. Drinks. Something Dad never tried before. Mum always told him not to take alcoholic drinks, but Dad thought that if he took some, he would be liked by others._

_Under temptation, he sneaked away from Mum and headed over to the party. Apparently, it wasn't at his old school. It was at a bar where a person – who was his classmate – invited all of his friends to that place. When Dad arrived there, it was packed with people._

_From what I saw from the article, he didn't like being around in the party. Everyone was dancing to the music, unaware that they were hurting others. They were making a LOT of rude jokes and swearing. They were eating DRUGS and drank a LOT of alcohol. Dad found it disturbing, but he pretended to like it._

_Eventually, he decided to take a bag of weird stuff. The article said that it wasn't known what was in the bag, but it had bizarre effects. When Dad gulped them, everything started to…glitch. For him, everything around him started to distort and spin. He was lost. Because of those stupid drugs, Dad started to walk weird and accidentally crashed into a table, spilling the drinks._

_At this, he quickly snapped out from his madness. He realized what he did. Even worse, the people who were drinking those drinks were PISSED. The fact that they were ALREADY drugged and drunk didn't help._

_They yelled and insulted Dad. He was helpless. He tried to apologize, but the group decided to get revenge on him. They started throwing punches at him._

_And then kicks._

_And then smacks._

_And then whacking him with chairs._

_Eventually, it went out of control. They strapped him up to a table. One of them took out a nearby steak knife and…_

…_they stabbed him in the head._

_Fortunately, a group of good saints noticed the situation and broke up the commotion. Dad was still alive as the knife didn't stab his head deeply, but he was losing blood. The saints called an ambulance and sent him to the hospital._

_Dad spent about two months in hospital. When we were reported that he would finally be allowed to go free, the doctors told Mum the bad news. They said that he was healthy, but his frontal lobe was damaged. It caused…a side effect on him. He started to act stoic and barely said a word. They tried to use therapy on him, but he didn't listen. Mum said that she would talk to him, knowing that Dad would ALWAYS listen to her._

_It didn't turn out well._

_When Dad got home, he…glared at us. He never said a word to us. For the first few weeks, all he did was just sitting on the couch watching TV all day drinking beer. He never said a word when we tried to communicate with him. Not even a smile crept on his face. Because Dad lost his job, Mum had to work hard as the house rent hit us harder._

_And then, one day, this happened._

_During December, I was busy making a Christmas card to one of my childhood friends when I heard Dad…yelling. This was the first time I heard him yell. I crept downstairs and saw what happened; Mitchell had tripped onto the floor, spilling water on the carpet._

_The water wasn't going to damage the carpet, but Dad took this as an offense._

"_You little pathetic b***h," he snarled. "WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SPILL THAT ONTO THE FLOOR?!"_

"_I-I'm sorry," said Mitchell._

"_DON'T SAY SORRY TO ME!"_

_I was shocked seeing this. Before I could make a move or say a word, Dad saw me._

"_What are you looking at?!" he snapped._

"_Um…" I stuttered. "I…uh…I…"_

"_GO TO YOUR ROOM! __**NOW!**_"

_In fear, I ran off. Ever since that incident, I realized that the once handsome and loving dad I knew was gone. It got worse from there. From that day on, Mitchell and I became Dad's punching bag. He didn't beat me up, but he ALWAYS yell at me. However, he used physical actions ON Mitchell. He beat him up and hurt him until he cried. He told us how both of us were pathetic, weak, stupid and useless…just like how we were supposed to be. He told us that we didn't deserve ANYONE'S love. No matter how hard we tried to please him, he always called us pathetic._

_Mum tried her best to keep everything under control. She tried to stop Dad from hurting Mitchell and told us that she still loved us. When we asked her why Dad was acting so mean, she told us that he just had a bad day. But I knew that all he did was just stare at the TV all day. He always took his anger out on us for no sick reason._

_Until now, I realized why he was acting in this way. He lost part of his frontal lobe and that caused his character to change. Also, he must have suffered PTSD from that bar incident because it scarred him permanently. I came up with the theory that those people hurt him so badly, it caused him to become like them. He became more violent, aggressive and antisocial._

_Even my Mum was starting to lose sight of herself. It was not only Dad she had to deal with. The job she had was becoming a problem for her, as she couldn't keep up with the work and started to get little pay. She even went home with no award. The house rent threatened us to kick us out of our home. Mum didn't know how to deal with all of those things. I remembered seeing Mum crying on her bed, having suicide comments. I tried comforted her because we knew that she loved us and I had to love her back._

_When Mitchell and I turned seven years old, Mum lost her job. Luckily, she found a new job in Orlando so we all moved there._

_And we were heading to the next stage of conflict._

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Henry was speechless as he heard the whole thing as they walked through the dead hallways. What? Mitchell? Liam? Their dad? How could he offend them and used them as some sign of mockery?!

"Uh…hello?" said Liam, waving his hand in front of him. "Old man? Are you there?"

"Wait, what?" said Henry, shaking his head.

"I stopped for a while, so that I can calm myself down when your face look pale."

Henry nodded. He looked at Harley.

"Henry," said Harley. "That boy went through a lot. So did Mitchell. I…I don't understand what REALLY triggered all of this."

Liam looked down. "Maybe it was my father's stupidity. I wonder what he would be thinking by now in the skies."

Henry was confused. "In the skies?"

Liam sighed and turned around. "Well…"

**HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!**

They all froze.

"What was that noise?" said Harley.

Henry looked at what was in front of them. There was a vent on one of the walls. Its door was opened and there was ink coming out from it.

Taking a peek, Henry bent down and looked through the vent. It was dark inside. The small vent hallway had silver metal walls and ink stains. There was almost nothing in there, but cobwebs.

"Henry," said Harley. "What's in there-?"

She was cut off when something appeared in front of Henry's eyes. It was small. And hideous. And gross. And had a large row of menacing sharp teeth. It screeched and charged towards his face.

Screaming, Henry quickly shut the door, but it was too late. The creature hopped onto his face and started to bite his nose. Henry yelled out in pain. He felt as if it was piercing into his flesh. It was…hurtful.

Harley let out a scream, horrified by the deformed critter. Liam just ripped the creature off Henry's face. He held it near his face. The small monster was swiping its claws upwards, trying to scratch the teen's face.

"What is this thing?" said Liam in disgust.

The monster growled in response.

"It's **cute**."

And then, he threw it onto the ground and stomped his foot onto its head; instantly killing it.

Harley flinched. "That's a bit too mean."

"Especially that s**t trying to kill us," said Liam blankly.

"Henry. Is your nose fine?"

Henry whimpered in pain as he held onto his nose. The pain was still there. He removed his hands from the nose to reveal that…there was…nothing.

"What?" said Harley.

"Wait a minute," said Liam.

"Is it bad?" said Henry.

"Actually, it looks good. There is no…bite mark on it."

"Hold on," said Harley.

She got near Henry and squinted her eyes at his nose. She could see the slight bite mark on Henry's nose before shrinking into nothingness.

"Interesting…" she said.

"What is it?" said Henry.

"When the monster bite you…" explained Liam. "It appears that there is no bite mark on it. Also, those ink monsters are known to turn others into their own kind when they bite their victims."

"What?!" said Henry.

"Yeah…that's awful."

"Well…am I melting?"

"No."

"Am I trembling?"

"Not really," said Harley.

"Am I changing?"

"No," said Liam.

"Am I still white?"

Liam bit his lips.

"Yes," said Harley, rolling her eyes.

That was when he realised something.

"Those green chemicals Mitchell made," said Liam. "You drank one, right?"

Henry's face turned pale. "Uh…yeah. I accidently did when I first entered the warehouse. What about it?"

A smile appeared on Liam's face. "Well that is definitely a good s**t."

"Say what?" said Harley dumbfounded.

"What I am saying is that Mitchell does science. He buys a lot of chemicals and exotic elements. He likes to make new chemicals that can be useful. Those chemicals he made can cure people. They can make people IMMORTAL and resistant to injury. When they get a scratch on their skin, the skin will quickly form back its tissue in a second."

"And what does that mean?" said Henry.

"It must have worked!" said Liam, getting excited. "As a bonus, this chemical can make you live forever! It cures Parkinson's disease and give you a healthy strong body. You are now invincible!"

Hearing this made Henry's stomach turned. He couldn't believe it. One second, he thought that stupid chemical was poison and the next second, he was told that it would make him strong. He wouldn't have to worry if he hurt himself. He wouldn't have to worry if he breaks a bone. He wouldn't have to worry if he is going to die. Even better, he would have to worry that he will become stiff and slow when he's older!

"Could they heal the scars on my arms?" thought Henry.

That thought made Henry's head spun. It was pretty confusing. Just before Henry could ask how Mitchell could make those chemicals, Harley asked a question.

"By chance," she said. "Are there any more?"

Liam placed his hand over his chin. "I think so. Henry must had drank one, so there are about four left."

"Where are they?"

Liam frowned. "I'm not sure. They must be scattered when all of this happened. Maybe we can find them. That way, we can go through this crap-sack world and shut down the Ink Machine! It's a win-win solution!"

Henry's eyes widened up. Four chemicals left. He came to the conclusion of what was left of them.

"Do you know where the other bottles are?" asked Harley, her eyes sparkling with hope.

"Yeah…" said Henry sheepishly. "I know where they are…in a place where we can't get them anymore."

* * *

Joey Drew slowly opened his heavy eyes, struggling to wake up.

He coughed.

His throat was burning.

He got into a sitting position. He tried to stand up, but found out that his wrists and ankles were tied up to something. He looked down. His hands and legs were in chains connected to a wall. Even if he could stand up, he would just fall back onto the ground.

"W…where am I?" he slowly said.

He tried to think about what happened before he ended up in this…place. He remembered that the Ink Machine disappeared and this caused him and the others to fall into a panic. Joey was the one who was VERY upset, desperately looking around the museum to find the machine. No such luck unfortunately.

He gave up and decided to use the restrooms. When he opened the door to the unisex toilets, something appeared in front of him before he blacked out.

He gasped upon remembering this. He thought again, trying to see how that creature looked like.

The head looked like Bendy…

…but the top part appeared melted…

…covering the eyes…

…the horns were slightly more curved and pointed…

…move sideways like an animal's ears…

…the toothy grin twitching constantly…

Joey gasped again.

It was BENDY.

The Ink Demon.

That same damn demon he transformed into for 10 years.

Something didn't seem right.

He looked around.

He was in some kind of room. The walls were beige and made from wood. The floor was also made from yellow wood. There were several rows of thick metal bars blocking the exit. There were many ink stains on the floor.

His eyes widened.

He was in a jail cell.

Not only that.

He was…

"NO!" he screamed. "THE STUDIO?! NO! NO! NO! GOD, PLEASE NO! NOT THIS CRAP AGAIN!"

He started to panic, but calmed down knowing that his health wasn't better yet.

"W…what happened?" he said nervously.

A dreadful thought came into his mind.

The Ink Machine.

It disappeared at the museum.

Maybe…

Maybe…

Maybe somebody stole it!

And he was sent back to the haunted studio!

"B-but is there anyone out there?" he thought.

He let out an anxious call. "H-hello? Anyone? Is anyone here?"

**HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!**

Joey gulped. He recognized that sound. One sound that he couldn't forget.

Coming towards the metal bars were two ink monsters. Both of them looked like humans, but in a zombie way. One of them had its face torn off revealing a nasty-looking skull, one hand was chopped off and replaced by a hook, its hip removed and one of its foot was gigantic. The other one had a part of its face melted, its arms were covered in large bite-sized wounds, a bone could be seen poking out from its knee and its feet had large claws. Both had a deadly-looking set of sharp teeth.

The first one came up to the cell and unlocked it with a key. When they got inside, they came closer to Joey and snarled.

"Uh…" said Joey sweating. "H-hey there…h-how are you doing?"

The monsters just kept their glares on him.

"W-what is going on?" he said. "Where am I? What happened to the Ink Machine? Where is Henry?"

The monsters didn't say a word. The second one took out another set of keys and unlocked the chains from Joey's limbs. Once he wasn't chained to the wall anymore, they put on handcuffs around his wrists.

One of them let out a snarl. "**Get up.**"

Joey flinched. This was the first time he heard an ink monster talk. "W-what?"

"**Get…up…**"

Joey shook his head. "I…I can't. My legs are paralyzed so…"

"**GET UP!**"

The sudden tone of the monster's voice scared him. Reluctantly, Joey tried to stand up…only to fall to the ground face-first.

The monsters sighed in annoyance and both of them picked the old man up by the hands. Joey felt his face being lifted from the ground. From there, you could see some blood coming out from his nose due to hitting the floor too hard.

The monsters dragged Joey through the jail hallway. Joey didn't make a single word. He didn't know what was going on and he didn't have the strength to run away. He looked around.

The hallways were built from wood in a yellow color. EVERYTHING seemed to be yellow. There were lights hanging on the ceiling, but they only provided poor illumination to light up the entire place. There were many jail cells on the sides, each of them blocked with metal bars.

Joey took a peek as he passed them. One jail cell showed a man chained to the wall. This scarecrow looked like he needed a bath, a good deal of ointment and nose wipe.

Another jail cell showed two people inside, cuddling together. One was a woman who looked like she just came back from the wild. The other was a young boy who was wailing loudly until one ink monster came up and roared at him to shut up.

Another jail cell showed a naked person lying on the floor, showing his back to the bars. He had a lot of scars and wounds on his body. Joey didn't know if that man was moving or not.

The monsters opened a large door and entered another hallway. Joey groaned in pain as he was dragged. He slowly looked up. On the sides were large human-sized tubes with a strange yellow liquid in them. There were people held in those tubes, not making a single move. They had wires connected to them. Even worse, part of their bodies looked like they were made from ink and they had pained expressions on them.

Joey's eyes widened in fear.

One of the tubes had Allison.

As they exited that hallway, they went onto a bridge. Joey looked on his right. From down below, he could see a large tunnel below the bridge. It appeared to be a construction site. There were many humans toiling away with shovels, pickaxes and carts of building supplies. They were working hard on building a long hallway with tired looks.

Some of them slumped to the ground in exhaustion. The ink monsters there screeched at them to get up and continue to work. That screech would sent shivers down anyone's spine, so the workers had to get up. One worker in particular just laid on the floor, not caring about the monsters roaring at him.

Finally, one ink monster went up to him and bit him on the back. The worker screamed in pain before being transformed into an ink monster. The former worker slowly got up and looked at the other monsters. They nodded and that deformed worker walked off.

Joey gulped.

When they got to the other side of the bridge, they entered a new room.

It was a large beige room with a stage on the left and on the right…

"The Ink Machine?" thought Joey. "What is it doing here?"

It was resting on a high platform, the black pipes connected to it expand and contract every second.

The whole room was filled with many ink monsters.

There were THOUSANDS of ink monsters.

HUNDREDS of thousands of ink monsters.

Half of them were deformed ink cartoons.

Half of them were humanoid ink monsters.

They were all looking at the center of the room. They were all yelling out something in black speech. A loud voice could be heard in the center saying something religious.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**" said the loud voice.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**" called the monsters in a gritty voice.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

Joey winced at this. Something about that loud voice was…peculiar. When the monsters dragged him into the room, the others noticed him.

Immediately, they all let out cries of hatred at Joey. They booed and hissed. The air stank of rancid. Ink blobs were flying through the air, splattering onto Joey's face. The old manager didn't respond back. He knew that type of rejection before.

They all got to the middle. Joey saw that there was something written in the middle surrounded by 12 candles. The drawing was a large circle outlined in black ink with a sickening symbol in the middle.

Joey winced. It was nearly the same pentagram he used at the studio…sort of.

"**Our lord will be pleased by this, little sheep**."

Joey gasped, hearing that voice. He looked up. There was a bald muscular man made from black ink wearing a smudged Bendy mask with a hole punched into the mouth, a pair of overalls and black shoes.

"S-Sammy?" stuttered Joey.

"**Sammy…that name sounds familiar…**" said the what-supposed-to-be Sammy.

"How come you're alive? I thought you were dead or hiding out in the open when Henry saved the studio."

"**Well…I would have died. But my savior saved me. The believers always get what they deserved from the lord. He must have notice me.**"

Joey's face wrinkled up in disgust. "N-notice you?! You asshole. For the millionth time, do you know what you're saying is crazy?!"

Sammy frowned. "**Crazy?!**"

All the ink monsters let out a new wave of anger at Joey. They threw more ink blobs at him, but Sammy raised his hand as a gesture for them to stop.

"**Do you REALLY think my lord would do anything wrong?!**" shouted Sammy. "**My lord will find you a most worthy sheep to be used.**"

"What are you talking about?!"

"**I'm preparing for our lord's arrival. We have to do his bidding, so that the world can know him!**"

"Are you talking about Bendy? You know that he will just tear you apart! He even nearly killed you!"

"Oh really?" said another voice. "Do you think so?"

Joey froze. He saw a figure coming through the crowd. When that figure came to the center, Joey got a good look at him; the figure was covered in a large brown cape with a hood over his head, hiding the top part of his head. His eyes both had red sclera and there was just one yellow pupil on his left eye. He had noticeable sharp canines that didn't protrude through the lips. He was wearing a black ninja robe, black jeans and black boots. He also wielded a black staff with white organic-like swirls on it and a white orb on the top.

"THAT DISAPPOINTMENT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO USE THIS TYPE OF POWER!" shouted the figure.

Joey let out another gasp. That figure looked like human. He didn't seem to be older than him. Yet, unlike the monsters, his voice was completely normal aside from the fact that it was young and a bit raspy; like a teen.

"W-who are you?" said Joey feeling his heart started to race. "A-are you a d-d-demon?"

"Well yes AND no," said the figure bluntly. "You could say that I was once human before I used black magic to turn me into this. Please call me…**the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"My…Mykrylais?" said Joey, trying to pronounce the name.

Mykrylais laughed. "It's pretty funny for old men like YOU to try say things properly."

"H…how did you even steal the Ink Machine? Are you using it AND that hot damn pentagram for all this?"

"Why yes," said Mykrylais, moving his hands around as if telling a story. "I used them to create this cool place…or did I? It's a confusing world…and a horrible one. I guess that none of us are what we expected them to be. Like YOU for example; a hard-working manager who tried to skyrocket his studio to fame only for his workplace to become a hellish playground while you transformed into a powerful monster. I wonder why you decided to pay your debt. I mean…why would you give that machine up when you can control ANYTHING? I guess that you don't deserve this sexy power…"

Joey's brows narrowed. "I only gave it away so that no one can be hurt anymore!"

"Oh really? How pathetic of you. When you have power, you're supposed to use it to assault any weaklings and get rid of anyone you dislike…just like the rest of the world. The strong and beautiful get the right to do ANYTHING THEY LIKE while the weak gets enslaved or die. That's how the way the world works."

Joey spat. "'That's how the way the world works'? What is this? Hunger Games?! We're supposed to work with each other so that we can be better! Not just make people as your slaves! You are nothing but a bastard and you can kiss my big old ass for anytime you want to!"

"**HOW DARE YOU INSULT OUR LORD, LITTLE SHEEP?!**" snarled Sammy. "**You will face the consequences of your poor decision.**"

Taking Joey's remark as an offense, the ink monsters resumed their booing and hissing, launching a fresh round of missiles at Joey.

Mykrylais put his hands up.

"Enough," he said.

The crowd went silent. The young man walked up to Joey and bent down.

Mykrylais sighed. "Honestly, I feel bad for you…but…the world doesn't want to have weak people. I'm sorry you feel that way…but that's understandable. After all, you are not a believer. But we can fix that."

Joey's eyes widened.

"No…no…no…you can't be serious!"

Mykrylais nodded. "That's exactly what I mean. But don't worry. Think of is as…an offering from me. Like we are just temporarily using your body as a weapon…wait, that doesn't sound right. Look, you will be one of the first to be tested for a ritual I tried to do! What do you say?"

Without waiting for an answer, the young man motioned to Sammy.

Immediately, Sammy grabbed Joey by his short hair. The latter let out a cry.

"Don't cry," said Mykrylais with a smirk. "It will be painless…for me."

Sammy dragged the poor Joey Drew across the floor to the stage. In front of it was a large pool of ink. It was hot, bubbling and…steaming.

"No…" said Joey dreadfully. "You can't do this!"

"Why yes I can," said Mykrylais. "I NOW control the Ink Machine and the world is in MY control."

Joey growled. The ink monsters started to let out a shrill cheer at him.

"You sick people!" he said. "You are all sick! Like a pack of children!"

The booing rose.

"Which is better – to be a pack of monsters or to be sensible like Henry? You know that you lot are the ones that are making the world a hellish place! Don't you understand what you are doing?"

Sammy shook his head and dragged Joey into the pool of ink. He made the old man stand up despite the latter struggling to break free.

"Do it," said Mykrylais.

"**Do you believe that Mykrylais is the one true God on Earth?**" said Sammy with a wicked smile.

Joey made no word, but his eyes were on fire.

"**Do you accept him as your Lord and Saviour?**"

Still nothing.

"**Say 'I believe that Mykrylais is the living God and I accept him as my Lord and Saviour'.**"

Joey still made no reply.

Sammy sighed. "**At least I tried. Now I baptize you in the name of the Mighty Mykrylais, for the gift of god himself!**"

He slammed Joey into the ink. The second Joey got submerged under the disgusting black liquid…he couldn't get out.

All of the monsters cheered seeing this.

"Now…it begins," said Mykrylais evilly.

He calmly took out 12 candles and placed them in front of the pool to form a new circle. He lit every single one of them up. He placed his hand in the pool receiving a hand full of black ink. Gingerly, he used the finger on his other hand to dip it into the ink and draw a large circle around the candles. Then, he drew another mysterious symbol on it.

Once the new pentagram was finished, Mykyrlais slowly put his staff down, lowered to the ground and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and held out his hands. He started to mutter something. Nobody knew what he was saying, except for Sammy and the monsters. He was somewhat speaking in another language. There was a dark tone to his chant.

Responding to this, the pentagram started to…brighten up. The black lines started to turn to white, glowing in the dark room. The candles' fire flared upwards every second. The orb on his staff even brightened.

Sammy gave an evil grin seeing this. For him, this was good. He obediently stood away from the pool. The ink pool was producing more bubbles than ever before. Nobody knew what was going on in there, but you could hear the disturbing noises from there.

Joey could be heard screaming as his body started to…expand. He felt his muscles swelling off, his clothes ripping off and his whole body trembling. He even felt himself growing taller. All of his bones were twisting, expanding and cracking so badly that they felt like they were breaking. He was…changing into something else.

"Don't worry, Joey Drew," said Mykyrlais as he stood up and watched the show. "Pain is just an obstacle to greatness. When you get through that, you will be…IMMORTAL."

And then…everything went silent.

The monsters came closer to the pool to see what was going on. The ink stopped bubbling or steaming, becoming still.

FOOSH!

Something jumped out from the pool and landed onto the pentagram. Mykyrlais looked up at that thing and smirked.

That figure that jumped out from the pool was a large and intimidating monster; a powerful form that nearly represented the ink demon. It had an enlarged head with a wide mouth and two rows of fierce sharp teeth along with filthy gums, longer slim horns and broader blade-sharp spines on the back. The shoulders were more stretched and sprouting a long nail on each elbow. The chest was covered with needle-like thorns, the large arms had strong biceps hard enough to crush an anvil and the hands were gnarly sporting four clawed fingers while having two holes that bared a reminiscent to Bendy's gloves. The legs had muscles in them and they had claws on them. There was a large serpentine-like tail with a triangle tip resembling a demon tail; it was swinging violently. To put it simple, this thing was BUFF.

The beast let out a loud lion roar shaking the entire room. All the monsters cheered out loud seeing the new Beast Bendy. But that cheer was nothing compared to the cheer when Mykyrlais punched the air with his fists.

"YES!" he said in excitement. "It worked! Now my rituals are near to PERFECTION!"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykyrlais!**" yelled Sammy.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykyrlais!**" chanted the ink monsters.

Mykyrlais arrogantly raised his hands into the air, enjoying all the attention. Beast Bendy let out another roar, lust for blood.

After this, Mykyrlais turned back to the crowd.

"This is just the beginning!" he yelled. "I still have many rituals to make. For now, let's see how you use your powers there…**Joey.**"

He snapped his fingers and something fell down from the ceiling only to be yanked by the chain. It was a human, all covered in ink stains. His hair was a mess, his eyes were bloodshot and there was blood trickling out from the side of his mouth. He was lowered down and his foot nearly touched the angry crowd.

"This looks like an interesting dummy," said Mykyrlais grinning. "Beast Bendy; you have the honors."

Beast Bendy let out a snarl as he came closer to the poor victim.

"W-wait…" said the human. "No…no…NO! Please no! I swear! I won't run away again! Please! Have mercy!"

The crowd jeered and chanted a mad verse.

"**Kill the human! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!**"

"**Kill the human! Cut his throat! Spill his blood**"

"**Kill the human! Cut his throat! Spill his blood**"

"**Kill the human! Cut his throat! Spill his blood**"

The human looked up to see Beast Bendy coming up to him.

"P-please…"

* * *

**AN: And Beast Bendy made his first kill. Woo, Sammy Lawrence appears in this story and Joey Drew ISN'T responsible for the ink invasion. Doing the 'baptist ritual' was kind of disturbing. I was trying to find a cryptic and mysterious way of how Joey Drew turned into the Ink Demon again, so I decided to go with Sammy 'baptizing' Joey. And for those who are reading this are religious, don't believe that this would be true. This is black magic, so please try NOT to do it (of course, the black magic in this story if fake)!**

**[1] F.Y.I. Jace and Lucy don't trust the Black Skulls that much. Jace dislikes the group because of how popular they are, making Jace jealous; evoking him to do things on his own without a superior group's help. Lucy feels pretty uncomfortable towards the Black Skulls because of their intimidating looks. **

**[2] Zoggerific - the creator of Sven - makes his character to act as if he is Swedish, so Sven can speak in Swedish language!**

**For this chapter, here are some more background about the characters.**

_**Jace Octoson**_** is a major/minor character. He is made by _OctoReader_ and (if this story was made into a movie) voiced by **_**Tomokazu Sugita. **_**Pretty much an edgy and arrogant character alongside Sven. Teaming up with _OctoReader_, he created how Jace would look like and what would be his characteristics. Jace is seen as a laid-back, cool and protective figure. He likes to gamble, despite being 16 years old (this is seen in Chapter 1!). Despite his huge attitude, he is actually a good person with a kind heart. He often tries to hide his eh...'softness. Jace has some references to _OctoReader's_ story as he has natural white hair (people tends to tease him for this, a link to discrimination because of looks from _Fresh Out of Octo Canyon_ and _Two Races_), he wears purple (the team color of Jessie's team from _Fresh Out of Octo Canyon [_geez, should I stop repeating this story titles?]) and has small fangs (a reference to the Inklings and Octolings from Splatoon).**

**_Lucy Bluebell_ is a major/minor character. She is made by _The Real Don Steele_ and (if this story was made into a movie) voiced by _Sierra McCormick_. We created this character during a chat and this is what we got. So basically, Lucy is a nice girl and Jace's boyfriend (I won't explain how they met...yet). For this, it is not a surprise that Lucy acts as the sweet and kind heart of the team. She is gentle and always look out for her friends. Because _The Real Don Steele_ comes from Australia, I gave Lucy a soft but thick Australian accent to fit her character. **

_**Clyde**_**_ Chaos_ is a major/minor character. I (TurquoiseTriangle) made him and (if this story was made into a movie) voiced by Nathan Sharp. Originally, he was going to be the main character, but I felt like he wouldn't really fit the bill. I ended up moving him to a lesser part. Like my other stories, he is pretty shy, quiet, wears black and has small fangs (a reference to _Clay Colourz_ and _Cadet Classy_ from _Forces United_ and _Inkcredible_ respectively). However, once he starts to get to know new people more, his true personality fleshes out. For this, he is a tsundere; he is really sarcastic, blunt and pretty much annoyed at anything. He takes things seriously and sometimes sees others as low in a dis-grunted manner (a reference to Bubblegum from _Forces United_). He is pretty much one of the cowardly characters out of the cast. Clyde even has a strong Australian accent and uses Australian slangs as I come from Australia and he is Malaysian/Asian; the same nationality as I am. So, yeah...this is my own character, but keep an eye out on the MAIN characters.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you like this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of this chapter: Because Joey Drew turned into a monster, what are your guesses on how he will act in this inky state?**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	5. 4 - Field Trip, Weird Trip

**AN: I'm back with a new chapter. In this, we will see a bit more about our main cast and the next part of Liam's backstory.**

**Special thanks to TrimusicaDrag00n90 for following this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Field Trip, Weird Trip**

**Elena's POV, 4/09 (at 6 am)**

I slowly woke up the next morning as light shone in my face. I let out a small yawn and rubbed my face.

I adjusted my glasses…or at least where my glasses were.

They were gone.

I immediately sat up. I looked around, trying to find my shades. That was when I heard someone clearing their throat.

I looked to the left to see Spider.

He was wearing my sunglasses.

"Howdy," he said.

He slowly moved them to show his dark grey eyes. "These shades are pretty cool, but your eyes are adorable."

Wait…WHAT?!

Adorable?!

My eye twitched.

I quickly snatched the sunglasses and hastily put them back over my eyes.

"Don't do that, you pervert," I said angrily.

Spider put his hands up in defense. "Oh. Sorry. Sorry."

He was giving me that stupid smile. I knew that kind of stupid face before. My mind told me to just slap him so hard, but I resist.

"Good morning, Elena," said Laura.

I looked up to see Laura bumbling towards me, holding a muesli bar. Bendy followed her.

"Did you get any sleep?" she asked.

I nodded wearily. "Yeah…"

"I want to tell you this; we were on the road for 11 hours, so it would take about uh…34 hours to get to San Francisco…so…it will take a while for us to get there."

"Right…"

"So anyway," said Bendy, jumping onto my shoulders. "While we wait until we arrive at the red bridge, we can just relax on this bus all we want."

I shrugged. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Why's that?" said Bendy as he hopped off my shoulders.

"Who knows what is out there? We don't know what danger we are going into."

Bendy nodded grimly. "True…"

"Don't worry," said Spider. "They said that this bus can survive a nuclear bomb war so we will be fine."

"How can they tell though?"

"I was up at midnight," explained Laura. "I sometimes stay up at night time to enjoy the nice midnight breeze. When I looked out the window, we saw many ink monsters trying to kill us. They were banging and pounding on the bus, but nothing breaks. There was even this large deformed Bendy creature that tried to destroy this bus, but Alissa just drove through it. This bus IS invisible like that car we used. We are perfectly fine."

"And is that supposed to make me feel better?" I said. "Of course, this bus may be the 'ultimate super vehicle', but we don't know what those ink monsters are capable of."

"But what do YOU know about them?" said Spider, winking at me.

"I wasn't talking to you, idiot. We may not know how to get to San Francisco."

"Actually," said Laura. "They do. I saw a built-in GPS and if that fails, Damien has a map prepared."

"Yes, we might have a map," I said. "But maybe some parts of the world must have changed because of all of this. There must be something dangerous out there."

Laura sighed in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic."

"How can I stay calm when we are in an apocalypse world and stuck in a stinky bus with an ink monster?" I shot back.

"I'm RIGHT here," grunted Bendy.

"…no offense."

"You know what," said Laura. "Save me the negative talk. There is no time for that. It will only bring you down and it's pretty unhealthy. I still believe we may get to Henry AND the Ink Machine in time, so no worries. This bus is our only protection."

"…you still don't know what unexpected things are out there."

"Well, be careful of what you say."

At this, we heard the doors from the bathroom stalls opening. Out came Draco and Sven…both shirtless.

"Do you have any ideas of what to do when we get to sunny California?" asked Draco.

"I say we all charge forwards, kick their butts and destroy that Ink Machine!" said Sven throwing his fist into the air.

Draco shook his head. "Again. What…is…your…plan?"

"Like I said. We all charge forwards, kick their butts and destroy that Ink Machine!"

"I forgot. 80% of your ideas are stupid while 20% are pretty impossible to do."

"Impossible? C'mon. You're talking to the great Sven here! I just can't wait to do some ass whooping!"

"SERIOUSLY! This is no fun mission. We could be in the fight of our lives, even though we're still teenagers. We can't just win without a REAL plan. It's not going to be kicking, punching, smacking and doing cool tricks to do all the work. We're going to need to learn how we can work with each other; I mean EVERY SINGLE MEMBER ON THIS TEAM. And Black Skulls are about NURTURING their members. We all must come up with a good plan where everyone can participate, so that we can win."

"And THEN we will kick their butts!"

Draco sighed in annoyance.

"Yes," he agreed as if talking to a child. "Then we'll whip their asses."

"Looking good today, Drac!" said Spider.

"So there will be a plan?" asked Bendy.

"That's right, little fella," said Draco smiling. "I'm trying to think of one, but it's pretty hard. I may need to hear all your options, but let's wait until we are somewhat 3 to 10 hours away from San Francisco."

I couldn't help, but noticed how strong Draco's and Sven's chests were. Their chests and abs were rock solid. Their biceps were also big, looking as if they were rocks.

OK. That was the creepiest thing I ever thought of.

I quickly shook my head, but it was too late. Sven saw that I was…'admiring' his body.

"Oh," he said with a smirk. "You're looking at these babies?"

He started to turn around, flexing his muscles. I saw from behind Jace seething in jealousy as Sven showed off his body. Draco – on the other hand – frowned.

"Uh…" said Laura blushing. "I like your muscles."

Draco looked disturbed. "You don't get to like my body."

"I feel the same way too," I said nervously.

"Wait," said Spider, seeing something. "Is that a tattoo?"

He was pointing on Draco's right side of his chest. There was a black cross-shaped tattoo on him.

And it was the religious one.

"Boy…" said Bendy. "And yet, I thought Sammy was the only crazy person."

"You know that you will be in trouble for getting that," said Spider.

Draco shrugged as he grabbed a nearby black jumper and put it on. "And yet, everyone has their hair colored."

He walked over to Alissa who was driving the bus.

"It's my turn now," said Draco. "My shift is right now so take a rest."

"Thanks," said Alissa as the two swapped positions.

Laura offered me a muesli bar and I took it. I was feeling hungry as I didn't get the chance to have dinner on the last night. After we ate our breakfast, Laura walked off to check on Draco while Bendy decided to talk with the other people on board.

Spider turned to me. "So…uh…hi…"

I gave him a look. "Uh…we are both in the same bus you know."

My eyes slowly drifted off to see his hair. It was neatly groomed and combed to the back smoothly. It varied from green and blue with a red streak. It looked so soft. I just wanted to touch it…wait. What?

I quickly snapped out from my daydream and looked back at Spider's face. To my surprise, he looked…nervous. He was trying to say a word, but shut his mouth. I saw sweat drops slowly coming down his face.

"Why are you so sweaty?" I said.

I thought that in his mind, he would be thinking. "Why am I so sweaty?"

Spider shrugged, trying to play cool. "I…I don't know. Must be a…puberty thing?"

"That's not puberty," I said bluntly.

"Oh…yeah. It's because we already passed puberty. I did as well. I'm…a grown man."

OK. That was awkward. Didn't he EVEN noticed my point?

"So…eh…" said Spider recovering. "You're…you're new at school…"

"Yes?" I said, tilting my head. "You already asked that question."

"But why so? Why do you decided to move to our street?"

I froze. Why I moved to Brooklyn. I shook my head trying not to think about my past too much.

"I rather not talk about it," I said sadly. "But...Uncle Henry, Aunt Linda and Cousin Laura…are the only family I have left in the world."

Spider gave me a look of sympathy. "I'm so sorry."

"It's OK. I mean EVERYONE loses someone they're close to. It's just life."

He gave me a look. "That's a bit dark."

"Isn't that how life is for everyone? Oh wait. You don't give a damn about anything like everybody else."

Spider was taken aback, but quickly shook it off. "…don't be so negative. Like Laura said, that's pretty unhealthy."

I rolled my eyes. "It's just facing reality, boy."

"Just stay positive, Elena. I promise that we will save your uncle and fix all of this."

I sighed. "'Just stay positive'. Do you HAVE to be positive?"

Spider smiled. "Of course. It's the natural thing I always do!"

I raised one of my eyebrows. "Are you REALLY that cocky and carefree?"

He gave me the thumbs-up. "You know it! Just by having some hope and happiness, I don't have to stress too much. I wonder how the other students at school are doing now."

For some reason, I started to feel angry.

I looked down gloomily. "Probably abducted."

"Again, don't talk like that! You don't know that for sure."

I shook my head. "Maybe, but YOU – on the other hand – don't know ANYTHING. Don't you even know what we are dragged into? A crazy, ink-filled, hot damned war! Do you even worry about what is happening? I wonder how you feel when you realize that the world is not about 'superheroes, rainbows and sunshine' BECAUSE IT AIN'T! Bad things have to happen and there's nothing you can do about it."

Spider was quiet before he stood up. There was an expression on his face that I had never seen before.

And his eyes turned from grey to black.

"So…you're saying that I have to SUFFER, so that I can be where I am now?!" he snapped. "Yes, I know it's not all 'superheroes, rainbows and sunshine'…but I would rather go through life believing it mostly is…instead of being like you people. Just what is with all these pessimists around the world these days?! And let me put it this way; being insulted is the LEAST painful thing for a person. Trust me; I did something wrong and look what that resulted in!"

I stood up and snapped back. "But that was different. You PURPOSEFULLY did those mistakes and they snapped back at you. I rather not say what I had been through, but crap always happen to me and I can't find a way to control it. And now I'm thrown into this."

Spider's eyes turned back to dark grey.

I sighed. "Why would I bother telling this to boys like you?"

I was about to walk to a lonely spot when Spider grabbed my hand.

"What did you say?" he said.

I hesitated. "Look…it's…it's just that I'm not comfortable being around with strangers…especially boys."

"Why's that?"

I groaned in frustration. "Would you hide too if someone – who is the opposite sex – was mean to you?"

Spider looked confused. "OK. What is this about now? We're going off topic."

"…I'm sorry. It's just that…I wasn't liked that much…"

A look of anger was seen on Spider's face. It later changed to a soft caring one. "Listen. At least you are away from…whoever those bastards or sluts are. You are here in this new town and I swear that it's going to be different to your previous home."

"…home…that's one place I'm trying to figure out for myself…"

"Well make yourself at home. There's a lot of friendly people around here. We all got a story to share. Think of it as your new family! Take this for example."

Spider smiled. He turned to Pitbull who was just standing there with his arms crossed.

"Yo, Pitbull!" he said. "I got in a fist fight two weeks ago. I nearly broke my fists."

Pitbull looked unimpressed.

"I also got a record of 99 kills in 2 minutes on Fortnite Battle Royale last Friday."

Pitbull gave the thumbs-up and nodded approvingly.

"See?" said Spider, grinning at me. "So just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Go make some new friends already."

I tutted. "You think THESE guys will fit in my 'social group'."

"Well they do! So am I!"

I gave him a look. "OK. We are not really friends."

"Well we are!"

My mouth slightly opened in somewhat surprise. "Then…what do you think I am…you know what…save the question later…"

I slowly walked away from him, heading to the bathrooms.

"Remember!" he said. "You're not alone in this!"

I looked at him with an unsure look before closing the door.

* * *

**Bendy's POV**

I decided to leave Elena and Spider alone. I think it would be time if I let those two LOVEBIRDS have a little chat.

…OK, Elena. I was just messing with you. I just wanted to see if you can last in a conservation with a boy! It's because I was concerned about you, so I wanted to see how you talk towards a new guy we both met.

Anyway, when I stood by the side, I watched Elena and Spider talked with each other. Well, there she did again. She was all talking about all that badness and being negative. I just wondered why she was acting so…insecure. But I knew that she wouldn't mean to. Some people don't mean to say things so nasty. Like Joey Drew for example.

I shook my head and decided to talk with a few other people on the bus. I walked to Jace and Lucy. They were sitting in one pile of bean bags together…making up. They were having a small chat and gave kisses on the lips. Not going to lie everyone…it looks like a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

I was about to turn around to give them privacy, but then, Lucy called at me.

"Hey Bendy!" she said.

I slowly turned around. "Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyes?"

"I'm just saying hi," said Lucy politely. "How are you doing?"

I yawned and rubbed my face. "I wished I could just wake up at 11 am…"

"Well…when your body says you have to get up, then you have to get up."

"Hey little dude," said Jace, giving me a bottle wrapped in red paper. "Want to take a sip?"

I smiled and took the bottle. "Thanks."

I popped the cap off and took a sip of it. I expected it to be a fizzy drink…but it tasted…

"Why does this smells like grapes and taste sour?" I said confused.

"Huh?" said Jace. "Hold on a second. Let me try."

I gave him back the bottle. He did a LARGE sip of it…before standing up, opening the window and VOMITED it out. At the same time, whatever came out of his mouth hit an incoming flying ink monster, causing it to fall onto the ground.

"WHAT **IS** THAT?!" shrieked Jace.

He took off the red wrapping and saw that there was a logo on the bottle.

"A-Alcohol?!" he said. "Who the hell put this drink on this bus?"

He threw the bottle outside. Even from far away, we could hear the unmistakable noise of a glass bottle smashing onto the hard road. Lucy inhaled sharply. I looked behind to see Sven sweat dropping.

No guesses who brought that bottle along.

"Anyway," said Jace, wiping his mouth. "How's the trip going?"

I shrugged. "Alright…well, it would be better if there aren't any monsters out there."

Lucy looked sad. "I'm sorry about what happened to Joey and the Ink Machine."

"It's fine," I said waving my hand. "Clyde told me not to worry too much about it. I just hope that we will get to the Ink Machine in time."

I did a somersault and landed in between the two.

"Impressive!" said Lucy clapping her hands.

"Thank you," I said.

"Yeah," said Jace, looking a bit jealous. "Fantastic…"

"…that reminds me. Uh…Jace…may I ask you a question?"

Jace smirked. "Hit me with one."

"Why do you sound Japanese?"

Crickets.

Jace looked at me blankly. "That I don't know. Well uh…it's a bit of a mix up in MY family. You see…my ancestors are…uh…let's just say that some Japanese guy married a white woman and this went on in the family tree. Japanese people…white people…and I'm a bit of a mixture of both. Well, I look like a white person…because I was raised here. No accent though…OK. I was raised in Japan for two years, so I got this nice accent, but no worries!" **[1]**

I nodded. "Yet, I thought there can't be a biracial human on Earth."

Jace slightly laughed at this. "I could have said the same thing when I saw you."

"True. Another question."

"And it is…?"

"Is your hair REALLY naturally white? If my memory serves me right, Lucy pointed that out in that car."

Jace's smirk slowly turned into a frown. "Excuse me?"

"Oh," I said, stepping away. "Sorry. I won't judge you. I'm just curious. Yeah, even though you look like some kind of old man, I was wondering why you have natural white hair. It's pretty…unique."

"Unique," spat Jace coldly. "That's what makes people an outsider."

"Jace," said Lucy grabbing his hand.

Jace looked at Lucy and their eyes met. The former reading the concern in the latter's eyes. He finally sighed and looked at me.

"Apologies for my manners," he said. "It is just that…argh…OK…I will admit that it is NATURAL. I just…feel like you are judging me. NO ONE has the right to judge my hair! I don't know why I was born with them and I tried to dye it, but nothing will stick to it. I can lose my temper a bit easily when a few jerks tease me about it."

"I see…" I said. "Does this 'Diesel' guy tease you a lot about your hair?"

"Definitely," said Lucy.

"Yeah," agreed Jace. "That guy always mocks me for my hair. It was…troublesome."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Even though I find it strange about this whole 'non-natural colourful hair', I think it looks nice on you, man. Gives off this cool effect."

A smile appeared on Jace's face. "Yeah…but-"

"No butts about it!" I said, shaking my butt. This caused the three of us to laugh. "I'll talk to you later. I want to talk with some other new people here. I'll catch up with you two soon."

I turned around and saw Damien, Alissa and Sven talking together. As I head towards them, I couldn't help but hear Lucy saying something to Jace.

"See, dear?" said Lucy. "There will be people who will think you are good for yourself."

Jace sighed. "I…I guess so."

"You just worry about your image too occasionally. Don't try to hide your true feelings by acting edgy."

Jace nodded sorrowfully. I felt kind of sorry for that guy.

As I walked towards them, I noticed they were dressed differently. All three had took off their leather jackets. Replacing her hoodie for a short time, Alissa was wearing a black shirt.

"Man, those Irish guys. They're f***ing scary, not going to lie," said Sven.

"Hey there, fellow Skulls!" I said.

When they heard my voice, the three looked at me.

"Hey there little boy," said Sven waving.

Alissa gave me a suspicious look. Damien crossed his arms.

"How are you?" said Sven, bending down to my level.

"I'm feeling fine," I said. "You?"

Sven laughed. "As awesome as ever."

I took a look at Alissa. She still had that firm look.

"What is it, pretty girl?" I said smiling.

Alissa was taken aback. "P-pretty girl?!"

"Why's that? I think you look nice."

Alissa shook her head in disgust. "Cut the crap out already."

"Language!"

"Just what are you doing?"

I was confused. "Doing what?"

"Did someone sent you to pretend like this?"

I raised one of my eyes. "No! Why the hay would anyone do that?"

"Other than Alissa being an introvert," said Damien, receiving an eye roll from Alissa. "It's just that...she and I don't trust you."

"Oh c'mon!" I said, making a pose. "I'm Bendy the Dancing Demon. Trust me!"

"Don't steal the spotlight from me," muttered Sven.

"How can we trust a DEMON like you?" snorted Alissa.

At this, I was hurt. This wasn't unusual to me. Back before, people sometimes insulted me because I was seen as a demon; some kind of abomination. But I wasn't going to back down from there.

I sighed and face palmed. "Really? You all stupidly think I'm Satan? I wasn't made to be a criminal. What am I guilty of now?"

"Maybe letting someone use the Ink Machine?" said Alissa, her cheeks puffed up. I knew she was joking as there was a slight smile on her face.

I rubbed the back of my head. "TECHNICALLY that wasn't my fault. Well…at least I tried to convince Joey to destroy that machine long ago. Anyway, I don't know what kind of God you're following or what beliefs you're having – to me, that's a bit…OFF – but I'm not what you think. I'm not like Satan. Just say that I'm a toon in the shape of a devil who likes to play pranks but I'll always look out for my friends."

Sven nodded in approval. "You're not wrong."

Both Alissa's and Damien's glares softened.

"Sorry…" said Damien. "…I just…I just thought that since you're an 'ink monster'…you might be evil."

"And I'm not used to being around people who are nice," said Alissa.

I gave them the thumbs-up. "Apology accepted."

Alissa slightly smiled. Damien still frowned.

Sven chuckled. "I guess we can trust you now."

He then leaned down and frowned. "Unless you're **Irish** that is."

Silence.

"Who's Irish?" I said dumbly. "Is it a he?"

Sven looked dumbfounded.

"I got to say," I said as Sven stood up. "You got quite a team."

"Thank you," said Damien.

"So let me rephrase that again from the first time we met…Alissa is the spy...Sven is the sniper...and Damien is the brains?"

"The best sniper out there!" said Sven smugly.

From behind my back, I heard Jace whining something.

"'The best sniper out there!' Pfft!" he snorted in a girl-like voice.

I looked at Damien. "No offence, but your position sounds like a nerd to me."

Damien frowned. "I'm not that smart. Speaking of you, I was just wondering this; how come the Ink Machine turned you into a living being?"

I shrugged. "That I don't know. I don't even know the parts of the machine. Yet, Joey said that he used ink and somewhat…eh…molten…no, wrong way…I mean uh…'crystallised' it? Wait no…that sounds bad. I mean…he used the ink to make any carbon-based living organisms."

"Are you made from ink?" said Damien, poking my arm as if trying to receive some ink from my body. "Can you melt?"

"Not really," I said. "I am made from ink, but my whole body is seemingly made out from flesh-like stuff. Can I melt? Not really, but if I go into a pool of ink…well, let's say that a drop of water in the sea is barely seen again."

"Hmm…" said Damien as he continued to observe my body. "Interesting. Stranger than those robots…is it OK if…when we're done, can I inspect you a bit more?"

"As long as you do not rip out my guts," I said, pointing a finger at him. "Boris won't like that."

Damien nodded obediently. I turned to Alissa.

"And you," I said. "How come you're the only girl on the team? Let me guess; four boys are trying to hit you."

Alissa closed her eyes in disgust. I swore I saw a slight blush on Damien's face. Sven gave Alissa a seductive face.

"Oh…" said Sven smirking. "Right. You see. Alissa and I-"

"Are NOT a couple," said Alissa cutting him off. She sighed. "I'm the only girl on the team because…I'm not a girly girl."

"Your hair has some pink streaks in it," I pointed out.

"For God's sake, it's DIFFERENT SHADES OF NEON PURPLE. My hair can be light at sometimes. Anyway, I don't really like to hang out with other girls and I also said I don't like to wear girly things. I rather hang out with the Black Skulls and wear tomboyish clothes."

"But you were friendly to Elena."

"THAT'S because she stands out from the other girls. She seems to be a tomboy and I like how she fights back; one thing I wanted to do with my bullies."

"What about the other girls here?"

"Laura and Lucy are OK…but Laura is a bit too energetic and too damn positive. Lucy is nice, but she seems to be a bit of a coward."

I nodded. "I see. How long have you guys been together?"

"About two years," explained Damien. "And during those years, we are known as a good group around town."

"Is there a reason why you guys formed the Black Skulls?"

The mood suddenly dropped like a brick. Alissa tried to say something, but looked down in shame. A glimmer could be seen in Damien's eyes as a dark look appeared on his face. Sven sighed ruefully.

"Please don't ask that question…" said Sven.

I felt tense. "Why's that?"

Sven looked down. "We…have our reasons why…"

"Let's just say…" said Alissa depressed. "…we went through something horrible…so we decided to team up in order to not make the same mistakes."

Damien bent down to me. "You see those bandages I wear?"

I stayed silent. I swore I heard him wince. He slowly peeled off the bandages on his left arm to reveal faint white lines on the skin. I looked closer and saw that they were…scars!

"This is because…" said Damien, putting the bandage back on. "…I wanted to help others…so that they won't get the same tragedy as I had."

I nodded. "Sorry…"

"It's fine," said Alissa. "But since we are all here and heading to San Francisco, maybe that will solve our problems."

Sven smiled. "We're hoping for that."

"Excuse me," said Damien, walking off.

Alissa smiled. "I'll be right back."

She walked off leaving Sven and I standing in our spots.

"They're…kind of standoffish," I said.

"That's them for sure," said Sven. "Oh, by the way, if you are interested in how we formed the team together, just ask Draco. It's best to ask him than asking us…I mean THEM."

I nodded again. "Yeah. Thank you."

* * *

**Elena's POV**

I came out of the bathrooms. After being alone for a while, I felt recharged. As I came out, I bumped into Clyde. Again, the streak on his hair changed color, becoming bubblegum pink.

"Oh," I said to him. "Hey there."

"Hey," he said, looking up from his iPad.

"…you don't engage with others that much like me, do you?"

Clyde just shrugged. "I'm not interested in group activities that much unless it is important."

I noticed that he was…kind of lonely, but he seemed fine. A beep could be heard from his iPad. He tapped a few times on the screen.

"What do you know?" he said. "Fanfiction is still up and people have been updating a lot of stories. Not the stories I like though…" **[2]**

Another beep could be heard. He tapped the screen again.

"What is it this time, Fritz?" he said to himself.

He noticed that I was still looking at him. "Um…uh…do you mind?"

"Oh," I said turning away. "Sorry."

I was about to walk off, when Clyde swore.

"Huh?" I said.

Clyde clenched his sharp teeth nervously and turned the screen to me. What I saw was…weird. It showed an image of a random guy taking a selfie…while being bitten by an ink monster. And he looked happy!

"This is what I call 'the last picture you will take in your life'," said Clyde sarcastically. "Eventually, many people are taking stupid photos of themselves, risking their lives on social media."

I shook my head. "It's a mad world, huh?"

"Pfft," tutted Clyde. "Yep. It is a mad world where someday, we will all die."

I gave him a look. "Since when were you this snarky?"

"Uh…since the beginning of time?"

I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or unsure when he said that.

"Hey, Clyde," I said.

"Hmm?" said Clyde.

"You said before that the school is full of retards. Why do you say that?"

Clyde sighed. "Sorry. I'm…a bit of a know-it-all. Basically, I'm an intelligent student and the rest of my classmates are all bloody idiots."

I bit my lip. He was a bit harsh.

"Even girls?" I said.

Clyde tutted in disgust. "Depending if those bludgers for once SPEAK UP in class instead of making excuses that they 'can't read' their textbooks. Crikey."

I gave him a look.

"What?" he said. "It's not like I want a girlfriend."

OK. We have a tsundere here.

"And you said that you wouldn't be any help for us," I continued. "Why's that?"

Clyde frowned. "It's…it's just a feeling that I…I can't help. I REALLY do want to help, but I'm…kind of scared. Of all this. Every bloody ancient-arse monster out there. I…I just don't want to die."

"Same feeling."

"Besides, I can't fight. I'm a coward. But I don't mind being weak. I don't focus on physical strength. I'm only concentrating on being a good person. I want to help Laura find her father, so I think it is best if I…tag along."

I nodded. I was kind of surprised of how this person acted. Unlike the other boys that I met in the past, he didn't show off that much and seemingly wasn't interested in 'manly' activities. OK, yes. He wore black, but he probably did that for fun. Yes, he acted a bit mean, but he was just annoyed of anyone's stupidity. He was even willing to join along only for the sake of finding Henry. Like Spider, Clyde was a good man. Maybe a bit too sane like Damien.

"Quite a surprise that I – for once – manage to speak to you since we just met. And by the looks of this group, it seems that you and I are the only sane people on this bus."

I looked at the scene; catching Spider pulling down Jace's pants. "That's veristic…other than Damien…or…Pitbull…or Alissa…or Draco, obviously."

I shrugged and decided to see how it was going at the front. However, I stopped when I saw Lucy having her phone close to her ear.

"No…no…no…please…" she said.

"Lucy?" I said, heading over to the blue-dressed girl. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

Lucy put down her phone. "Sorry. It's just that…I can't reach Barrett. He won't answer."

"Is his phone still on?"

"Why yes! And besides, his phone said that he is nearby. I…I don't understand."

I sighed. "I'm sorry about what happened to him."

"OK…but please…for his sake, don't tell Spider about this."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Because Barrett is his brother! Spider will be upset if he knows about this!"

"You gonna have to tell him the truth."

Lucy sighed, her blue eyes watering. "I…I don't know…"

I patted her on the back. "Maybe this 'Barrett' guy is alright. Probably accidentally threw his phone out from a building."

Lucy slightly smiled. "Yeah. You might be right."

I decided to talk with her for a while. "Just a question, I don't know this 'Barrett' person before. I think I saw him in a picture at Spider's house."

"You mean that guy?" said Lucy, wiping her tears away. "Yeah…Barrett is a nice guy. He is really strong, smart and…a bit handsome."

"I thought you like Jace."

"But that doesn't mean I can take an interest in other boys."

I rolled my eyes. "OK…is he like Spider?"

"Oh yes," explained Lucy. "Both Spider and Barrett are good people. Both of them have the same sense of humor. They always hang out with each other and always make jokes. Even though they have an age difference, they act like twins. They always finish each other's sentences and have a lust for adventure. The only difference is that Spider is more goofy and interested in comics. That kid really makes a LOT of monologues at times and tries to get attention. Barrett is more blunt and sarcastic. He is well-mannered. I would say, he is a torn between Clyde and Jace."

"A torn?"

"He is an easy-going guy," continued Lucy. "However, he has a bigger temper than Spider. One time…I won't explain the whole thing because it is…complicated…but Barrett was so mad that the results caused him to be suspended."

I bit my lip. "Is that why he went to boarding school?"

Lucy shook her head. "No. He ALREADY planned to go to boarding school just two years ago. Eventually, he skipped 3 years in Literature and Language, and he got his degree. He just needed to go to that college to finish up a special Year 12 exam…but I don't think he will be able to do it…especially with all this activity outside."

I nodded. "True."

"Hey Lucy!" called Sven. "Have you seen your watch?"

Lucy turned the other way. "I believe I found it! Just hold on."

She looked back at me. "Good chat."

"Yeah," I said. "Good chat."

"We'll talk later."

"Fine by me."

Lucy walked off to help Sven. I headed towards Laura and Draco who was on the wheel.

"Ah," said Laura, smiling at me. "What's up?"

"I just came to see what is going on there," I said. "Anything out there?"

"Not that much," said Draco. "So far, there were these small flying ink monsters trying to crash the bus, but they are too weak. They just smashed their faces into the windows and left a lot of ink smudged on the windows. I'm not sure if the windshield can handle all of that gunk."

I looked at the front window. It was slightly covered in ink, but we could still see through the bulletproof glass.

"Don't worry," said Draco, turning to me. "It's fine. This is just normal for me and I don't think anything can stop us now!"

BANG!

Something bumped into the front of the bus. Laura's, Draco's and my eyes widened in shock. We slowly shifted our eyes to the front to see an ink monster's face smacked against the window.

But it was buff.

And large.

And ugly.

"**HoW aRe YoU dOiNg?**" it said seductively.

I screamed.

"What is that?" said Laura shocked.

"Oh," said Draco. "Right."

He pressed a button and a rocket launched from the bus' throttle. It flew towards the ink monster and exploded. For a while, smoke blocked the entire smoke before clearing away showing an ink stained front hood of the bus.

"Yep," said Draco unfazed. "Just normal."

"You call THIS normal?" said Laura.

"Eh…" I said, pointing something in front of us. "…guys?"

"What?"

I couldn't speak because what I saw was…frightening. I could only point.

Draco's eyes widened again upon seeing where I was pointing at. "Oh no."

"Huh?" said Laura, squinting her eyes. "What's there?"

"They are kind of far away," I said. "Put on your glasses."

She took out her specs and put them on. Through the lens, what she saw made her jaw opened.

"F*** me," she said.

In the distance, there was a large pack of ink monsters flying through the blue sky. Like that previous ink monster we encountered, they were all buff, large and had the same deformed face. They had wings that sprouted from their backs, flapping through the air. Each and every one of them had a large wound on a specific part of their body, revealing the organs or bones.

"That…is unsettling," said Laura nervously, taking off her glasses.

"Yep…" said Draco deadpanned. "Just normal."

All the ink monsters let out a frightening screech that sounded like a mixture between a crow and a zombie. They all charged towards us.

RAM!

The first wave hit the bus sideways. The entire vehicle started to shake, but its wheels were still on the ground.

"CRIKEY!" yelled Clyde.

"The heck is that?!" said Lucy.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"We got attackers!" yelled Laura. "Ink monsters to starboard!"

Draco caught a glimpse on the left to see an ink monster flying towards us. He tried to steer right, but it was too late. The ink monster splattered against the front window leaving a black smear on the glass.

"I hate that!" he growled, trying to turn on the windshield. He pressed it a few times and cursed. "And this windshield SUCKS!"

"Language!" said Bendy.

"Just how many are there?!" I said.

"Seems to be more than 20," said Damien grimly. "We'll be dead for sure."

"But they can't break the bus!" pointed Spider.

"They can't," said Laura. "But they can tip this bus over. Once they have done that, the possibilities of escaping are small."

I gulped. She was right. If any of these ink monsters tipped the bus over, it wouldn't be able to get up and we would all be stuck. We would need to go outside to put the bus back into place, but with all the chaos happening around, none of us would survive that.

We hanged onto anything that was connected to the bus while Draco desperately tried to get through the wild monsters. But they wouldn't stop. They kept bashing their bodies onto the bus, causing the vehicle to shake too much. Some of us fell down, unable to hold down.

"Not going to lie, dudes…" said Spider smiling. "…it's a lot more fun than I thought it would be."

"Oh…it IS fun," said Clyde sarcastically. "Fun to be in a death ride."

Draco gritted his teeth as he fought his way through the ink mob. Even though he was still driving, it was harder for him to see where he was going. The front window was stained with a thousand ink smears and the windshield was jammed, making it impossible for Draco to see where he was driving. The ink monsters rocking the bus up and down wasn't helping the problem.

"That's it," he said. He turned to Sven. "Sven, remember the training? Take each and every one of them down. Make sure that they are away from the bus."

Sven nodded and grabbed out his sniper rifle. He took a big sniff of the weapon before sighing in pleasure.

"Ew!" said Alissa. "Where did you find these people, Drac?"

Sven climbed up the ladder that lead to the roof door. Before he opened it, he looked at all of us.

"Hold on tight, everyone," he said with a smirk. "Things are about to get hot."

He banged the door opened and pushed the top half of his body through the hole. He held his weapon in his right hand while using his left hand to hang onto the bus.

"Eat bullets, freaks!" he yelled before firing.

POW! POW! POW!

With quick-thinking and good eyesight, he managed to shoot most of the ink monsters down easily. In less than a minute, he delivered an impressive range of nail-biting shots; front shots, high shots, solo shots, rapid shots and even shot from behind without looking behind! The bullets managed to hit the ink monsters either on the head, heart or the wings. All of them fell onto the road, left to die.

"Wow," said Spider. "He's good."

Jace rolled his eyes. "He's not THAT good."

"Reminds me of this Call of Duty: World War 2 game you played, Laura," said Bendy.

Laura bit her lip. "Not really."

Sven was busy shooting the ink monsters around the bus that he failed to take note of the ink monsters ABOVE him, even though the high ones tried to scratch him. But Sven managed to dodge and duck their attacks. Eventually, one ink monster took the bait.

"**LiKe A sOmEbOdy!**" it screeched.

Sven looked up to see one flying towards him. "What the f-?!"

WHAM!

The ink monster flew in, but Sven quickly got out of the way. Alas, the ink monster GOT INTO THE BUS. We all screamed as it smashed into the floor, but it wasn't bothered by that. The ink monster got up.

"**It'S rApInG tImE!**" it exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me?!" groaned Draco.

The hideous beast pounced, but we quickly got to the other side, away from the ink monster. Draco was still driving and Sven was still taking the monsters out, but the ink monster was focusing on the rest of us.

The ink monster was just screaming out weird sexual noises as it tried to grab any of us. Eventually at one point, it cornered Lucy.

"No…no…no…" whimpered Lucy.

"**WoUlD yOu LiKe To PlAy A gAmE oF-**"

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" yelled Jace.

Jace tackled to the ink monster to the ground and started to punch it on the head. However, that beast was stronger. It let out a roar and leaped upwards, pouncing onto Jace.

"OH NO!" said Bendy. "It got him!"

The ink monster opened its mouth, revealing its disturbing THREE sets of SHARP teeth. Jace wrinkled his nose.

"Gross," he said. "You really need a breath mint."

"Stand back, everyone!" yelled Spider.

I saw him running towards the ink monster with a large rifle in his hands. The ink monster looked up and turned around. At first, you would expect that Spider was going to shoot its head, but…

SMACK!

…instead, he just whacked the head with his weapon. As a result, the rifle broke in half, spilling out bullets. The ink monster looked alright, but it was PISSED.

"You're supposed to shoot with the damn gun!" yelled Jace in disbelief.

"Oh poop," was all Spider could say.

Another roar came out from the monster's mouth as it pounced onto Spider. The latter cried in fear as the monster slowly reared in for a bite.

"NO!" screamed Spider. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I HAVEN'T EVEN CAUGHT UP WITH MAO MAO: HEROES OF PURE HEARTS YET! NO!" **[3]**

Fortunately, Jace quickly ripped the monster off and slammed it to the floor. With the monster dazed, Bendy ran up to it and repeatedly stabbed it in the head with a dagger. With every vicious poke came out a loud moan from the monster. When Bendy stopped, the monster just laid there, dead. It started to melt into an ink puddle.

Clyde blocked his nose. "Smells like someone peed in here."

"Somebody get a mop," mumbled Alissa.

Draco looked behind. "Is everyone OK?"

"We're alright, thank you very much," said Bendy.

"OK!" said Sven. "I've taken care of all of them! We won't see them again for a while…oh no…"

"What?" said Draco.

"LOOK OUT!"

At this, the windshield FINALLY worked and quickly cleaned the ink stains off the front window, only for Draco to see through the glass that he was driving towards the border of the road.

And oh, he was supposed to drive to the right. He was driving straight towards the edge of a high hill.

"GOOD LORD!"

Draco's foot stepped onto the brake.

No such luck.

The bus came crashing through the road fences and fell off the cliff. Everything went into slow motion as the bus sailed through the air, about to smash onto the ground below. During the fall, it was doing a 360 somersault. Almost everyone braced themselves for a crash landing…all except Spider who seemed to be enjoying this fall.

When it seemed that all hopes were lost, the bus perfectly landed onto the ground, eventually speeding onto the road.

"Whew!" said Draco, wiping his sweaty forehead. "That was cl-!"

BANG!

The bus suddenly stopped as the front hit the stump of a tree. We all fell down while Sven fell out of the bus and onto the ground, cursing.

There was a moment of silence until Draco let out this;

"Whoops," he said sheepishly.

I sighed and shook my head. "Really?"

"…at least the engine is fine. A little damage won't spoil it."

The door opened and Sven came marching inside, pissed.

"Please keep your eyes on the road," snarled Sven.

Draco rubbed the back of his head. Sven walked up to us and smirked.

"You're welcome."

Damien, Alissa, Laura, Bendy and Clyde clapped at this.

"Well thank you," said Lucy smiling.

"Were you able to take them all out?" I asked.

"I can," said Sven. "With enough practice and experience, you will master these kinds of techniques. Skills always beats luck."

"Sure, hell yeah!" said Spider. "Teach me someday how to do these kinds of sick moves!"

Jace rolled his eyes.

"Uh…" said Damien as a bubbling sound could be heard. "What's…that sound?"

We looked at the black puddle to see it…bubbling. There was something slowly coming out from it.

"Uh no…" said Bendy.

"What's wrong?" said Lucy, even though she noticed what was going on.

"…they…they are still indestructible…we need to clean that up before it revives."

That was when Pitbull grabbed a nearby towel and dropped it onto the puddle; the towel absorbing the ink. When all the black stains were gone, Pitbull picked the towel up and threw it out through the back window.

"…or that works," sighed Bendy in relief.

"Wait," said Laura. "Was that MY towel?"

I shrugged. "Because it's pink and have flowers on it? Yeah. It was your towel."

* * *

**Third Person's POV, San Francisco**

Barrett woke up the next morning as the sunlight shone on his face. He groaned. He didn't remember when was the last time he had a good sleep like this.

He let out a loud lawn and sat up from his bed. He slowly got off and looked through the window. The city was still in its shattered state.

"Great Vietnamese rice balls," he said. "I was hoping that the whole thing was just a nightmare."

He looked down to see his phone lying on the ground, untouched. All of a sudden, it started to shake.

Vibrating.

"Oh man," said Barrett, squinting his eyes to see the image on his phone.

It was Lucy Bluebell.

Barrett rubbed his face. "This is great. First Tuesday dropped my phone and now my friends are trying to call me."

He turned around. "You know what, Tuesday? Let's grab everything we need and…"

He trailed off by this sight of the door wide opened.

And oh, Tuesday was gone.

"Oh no," said Barrett.

He put his hat on, grabbed a nearby backpack that was already pre-packed and ran out the door. He gasped as he saw how the hallway looked like.

It was a complete mess. There was black ink splattered all over the place. On the walls, floor and ceiling. There was even ink dripping from the walls. Electrical lines could be seen from some of the opened ceiling tiles, spewing out electricity. The lights were flickering, giving out small illumination for Barrett to see. There were many books and trays spilled on the floor.

"Argh!" exclaimed Barrett, covering his nose. "This place smells like s**t!"

He saw something at the corner of his eyes. On the floor was a pile of ink-stained clothes. Barrett came closer to it. On top of the pile was a pink beanie. The blonde teen slowly picked it up.

"Jesse…" said Barrett, recognizing the beanie. "Oh…my…gosh…"

He realized this, even though he already know; when the ink invasion started, all his friends were killed and turned into those monsters. Barrett thought that there might be anybody else in the school, but it was clear that most of the students lost their lives.

The urge of tears was coming so strong, but Barrett knew that he couldn't cry at the moment. He had to find Tuesday and hopefully, there would be an antidote to cure his now-corrupted friends.

CRASH!

From far away, a metal box could be seen thrown out from a room, spilling its contents. Barrett gulped. Something was there. There was no other way to get out of the building except the hallway. Barrett slowly reached down to grab a lying crowbar. Making shaky steps, he slowly headed forwards into the hallway.

He was getting scared.

The fact that the building was nearly dark, the electricity spewing and the smell was rancid didn't help.

The rattling from the room was getting louder. Barrett put on his best confident face. He went closer to the room as he dared. He slowly stepped into the room…

…and lowered his crowbar.

He saw teal wedged sneakers popping out from a large box.

"Phew…" said Barrett in relief. "At least it is you, Tuesday."

"Sorry," muttered Tuesday, before climbing out from the box. "I was trying to find some weapons."

"I doubt there will be anything in this room."

"Hey, look!"

Tuesday pulled out a large silver sword. She swung it around.

"Wow!" said Barrett. "They kept a SWORD here?!"

"Well, they used it for school musicals," explained Tuesday. "Someone once snuck a REAL sword in."

"That is indeed illegal."

Barrett smirked as Tuesday swung her sword again.

"Eh," said Tuesday, spinning the handle. "Too heavy. Too soft."

"But super flashy," said Barrett with a grin.

"Maybe you should find a weapon in here as well," said Tuesday, pointing to another box. "Can be useful."

Barrett walked over to another box labelled 'LOST AND FOUND'. He opened it and found something REALLY rare.

"Whoo!" he said, pulling out a dagger. "Look what I found!"

He turned around to face Tuesday…and his eyes popped out from his sockets.

Tuesday was holding a large black gun.

"B-b…b…b-but how?!" said Barrett.

Tuesday shrugged as she threw the gun at Barrett. "Don't know. It's already loaded with three cans of bullets."

Barrett looked down at the gun as if it was a block of gold. He couldn't believe it.

"O-OK…" he said.

"Why?" said Tuesday smirking. "Never used a gun in your life."

"What?! No. I play Fortnite, but I never use a gun in real life. And I never seen one here at school."

"Maybe this place is very illegal."

Tuesday chuckled and clipped the sword on her belt.

"You're keeping it?" said Barrett. "I thought it was too heavy and too soft."

Tuesday shrugged. "Comes in handy…AND it IS super flashy."

Barrett nodded and while holding the gun, he used his free hand to keep the dagger clipped to his belt.

She put a black fedora hat on her head. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Agreed," said Barrett.

**GgGgRrRrRrOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoAaAaAaAaAaNnNnNn…**

"What was that?" said Tuesday.

The two blonde teens stepped out from the room.

"Ah s**t…" they both said in unison.

Coming towards them were a group of ugly-looking ink monsters. Each of them had their guts showing.

"This is about to get ugly," said Barrett, aiming his gun at the monsters.

"Ugly indeed," said Tuesday, pulling out a black pistol.

"I bet you can't destroy those monsters as I can."

"Oh it's on, idiot. I'm not a dumb blonde."

"Same here, asshole."

The two laughed at their joking insults before firing. The bullets shot out from their guns at the speed of time and hit their enemies. The monsters roared in pain as they collapsed onto the floor.

One ink monster appeared behind the two humans, but the teens pointed their gun backwards and opened fire. That ink monster was unlucky.

Barrett and Tuesday fist-bumped each other.

They ran through the hallway, in hopes of finding a way out. The hallways were still dark and dripping in ink, but it didn't bother them. More ink monsters would appear, trying to eat them, but they managed to get rid of them. Eventually, they started to become used to the guns.

The thing that scared Barrett was that they were ACTUALLY using DEADLY WEAPONS that would kill any human in a heartbeat. Those ink monsters were from THEIR families, THEIR friends and THEIR kind. However, from what they saw last night, the monsters were indestructible and they could revive like zombies, so they didn't need to worry. At least they managed to get away from them before the ink monsters re-spawned.

They managed to get out of the building and kicked the front entrance opened. They took a moment to breath.

"That…was…FUN!" said Tuesday, before she started to jump around like a kid on coffee and candy. "I should join the army someday!"

Barrett laughed between gasps. "Calm…down. We are Americans, not savages. And let's not forget that we are trying to get out of here."

"Well…here we are."

Barrett spotted his phone on the ground. He picked it up. The phone didn't have that much damage other than dust covering the screen.

"OK then," said Tuesday. "Where to now? I am thinking that we can sneak to my house, get my car and drive out of here. Now, that's a fool-proof plan. What do you think?"

Barrett wasn't listening. He saw something in the distance. It was on the outskirts of the city AND on the other side of where the two teens were at. It was an abandoned warehouse.

And oh, there were MILLIONS of ink monsters crawling out from the warehouse.

Barrett remembered seeing the news; it was claimed that the ink monsters were coming out from that warehouse. The Ink Machine was implied to be there, so that meant…

"Eh…Barrett?" called Tuesday. "Are you listening?"

"Change of plan," said Barrett.

"What?" said Tuesday.

"Look," said Barrett, pointing to the warehouse.

The young girl noticed. "Oh…maybe so. But it will be impossible to get to that…uh…Ink Machine thingamajig."

Barrett shrugged. "Well, not as impossible as facing those ink monsters we just fought.

Tuesday nodded, liking his idea. "Let's go already!"

"Not yet. This city is heavily flooded with ink AND monsters. I noted that around afternoon until the morning, the ink monsters will be around. Approximately, it will take us 12 hours to get there, but there are ink monsters everywhere. We need to find a safe places to hide and gear up."

"OK then."

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Barrett ran off, down the hill.

"I thought you said 'don't go already'," said Tuesday, chasing after Barrett.

* * *

**?**

"You klutz," said Liam as he, Henry and Harley continued to walk through the dark hallways. "Do you really HAVE to spill those chemicals?"

"I'm sorry," said Henry. "It was an accident."

"Oh really? If it was an accident, why did those chemicals go down?"

"Don't ask a stupid question like that."

"How about you go back in time and get those damn drinks for us?"

Henry sighed and shook his head. "If you two want to use me as a human shield, go ahead."

Liam rolled his eyes. Harley sighed.

"Anyway," said Henry. "There is something I haven't asked you yet. How come you found me in the first place?"

Harley smiled. "Well, I found you sleeping in a large spider web made from black ink. There was this large ink spider with large boobs that was tying you to the wall before it left, so I got you out from there."

Henry blinked. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

The trio came across a shelf full of many cans containing something. Harley smiled. Just what they need.

"Here," said Harley, grabbing three cans from the shelf. "Drink this."

She gave both Henry and Liam a can each. Henry looked at it. On the can was an image of Bendy along with a tag saying ''_BRIAR LABEL BACON SOUP'_.

Henry recognized the can. It was the food product Joey Drew Studios always sell for profit and the same food he ate at the haunted studio. It was based on the fact that Joey Drew likes to eat bacon, so they decided to use this to make a somewhat a mini food company. For this, he and Joey used a lot of vegetables, spices and soft bacon with an irresistible smell to bring in the customers. Sadly, it didn't sell well. Henry wondered why out of all the food in the world this 'Mitchell' guy would have bought these cans of s**t. They weren't bad, but the taste was over-powerful.

"Huh!" said Liam as he looked at the back of the can. "It expires on 2039!"

"Why do we have to drink it?" asked Henry.

Harley shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you need to get some vitamins and nutrients for this walk. You're an old man, right?"

Henry looked annoyed. "Again, I'm NOT that old. My body is JUST…FINE. Besides, that weird green chemical is going to keep me healthy for the next…eh…how long until the effects wear off?"

Liam gave him a look. "Forever."

"WHATEVER-IT-IS, for all eternity."

Harley nodded and popped open her can. "Drinks up."

Henry drank his…and nearly spewed out a mouthful.

"What the?!" he sputtered. "This taste too salty!"

Harley spat out hers as well. "Man, this taste like saltwater."

Liam – on the other hand – enjoyed the soup.

"Whelp," he said bluntly. "It tastes like Spam."

To the trio's surprise, the soup tasted like liquid. The vegetables and the meat must have dissolved in the broth.

"I wouldn't say it taste good," said Henry. "But it's kind of filling."

"Hmm?" said Liam, noticing something on the wall. "What's that?"

"Looks like a switch," said Harley.

She walked over to the switch and pulled it down.

All of a sudden, a slight tremor shook the room. One of the walls opened up – revealing to be a closed gate – that led to another corridor.

"Hey," said Liam. "I…I remember that corridor. This corridor led to a nearby lift. We may be able to use it to get to the surface."

"OK," said Henry as he and Harley placed their empty cans on the floor. "Let's go."

Henry and Harley walked off, making their way through the corridor…leaving Liam alone in the room. The blonde teen just stood there for a while…

…staring at the cans of soup…

…before taking four cans.

He quickly stuffed them in his jacket pockets.

"Good thing they are deep," he said.

He zipped his pockets up and quickly ran to catch up with the two grown-ups. Just in time. When Henry and Harley looked behind, they saw Liam with them.

"Hey Liam," said Henry.

"Y…yeah?" said Liam.

"What is your…full name?"

Liam looked confused. "Why are you asking?"

"Just trying to know you a little better."

Liam sighed. "Well…my full name is 'Liam Von Richmond'. Von Richmond. That's my last name."

Henry smiled. "That's a good name."

Liam took this by surprise. "…what?"

"I said 'that's a good name'."

Liam shook his head. "I'm…I'm sorry. It's just that I have never heard anyone compliment me before. Especially my name. My dad told me that my first name is a d***head."

"Don't call say that," said Harley.

"But…that's what he called me."

Henry gave Liam a kind smile. "Then keep my comment in touch."

To Henry's surprise, Liam smiled.

"Uh, guys," said Harley, stopping all of a sudden.

"What?" said Henry.

That was when he felt his foot on the edge of a platform. This caused him to lose his balance and nearly fell. Luckily, Liam grabbed him by the collar.

"Oh crap," said Henry, looking down.

Below him was the floor of a large warehouse-like room with yellow wooden walls. Or at least if you could see the floor.

Almost half the room was filled with a LARGE OCEAN OF FREAKING BLACK INK.

That's right.

A LARGE OCEAN OF FREAKING BLACK INK.

It was bubbling.

Steaming.

HOT.

Because of how hot the river was, the temperature of the ink caused the whole room to be humid.

And oh, the platform Henry, Harley and Liam were on was near the ceiling.

The three gulped at what they saw.

WHOMP!

Something closed behind them. They both looked behind. Blocking them from the corridor was a large black door that seemed to be made from ink. It was leaving them on the platform with the dreaded ink ocean below them.

"Oh no," said Harley.

Liam raised his eyebrow and walked up to the ink door. He punched it, but the door didn't budge.

"We're blocked," he said. "It's too strong."

"Great," said Henry in disgust. "We're stuck in this hot damn room."

Harley looked down. "Liam? Do you know anything about this room?"

Liam shook his head. "I don't think so. I NEVER seen THIS before. This was once a large warehouse room, but I've never seen this large river of ink before."

"How come it is there?" asked Henry.

Liam bit his lip. "It…it must be from…someone. Definitely not Mitchell. He's gone. Somebody must have made this and placed these weird things all over the place. Probably an impact from the Ink Machine."

Henry trembled at this. He remembered back at the haunted studio that there was an ocean of ink that he had to travel by boat. He remembered that it felt so cold…lonely…and creepy going through the ink waves with Bendy. Worse, they had to escape from this…this…this…

Henry shook his head, trying not to remember that dreaded hand that tried to pull him into the river.

"Is there any way to get across?" asked Liam.

"There's one," said Harley pointing to something.

In front of them were boxes hanging from the ceiling by metal chains. Some of them were nearly touching the ink ocean. Even though they seemed to be set in a bad angle, they looked stable enough for a person to go onto them. These hanging boxes led to another corridor on the other side of the room.

"Hey," said Henry. "Maybe we can go across them to the other side."

"WAIT!" said Harley. "Look!"

They saw an ink monster appearing on the other side of the room. It went near to the platform it was standing on and glared at the trio.

"Oh boy…" said Liam.

The ink monster trudged along, before falling off the platform.

It would have drowned in the ocean, but it landed onto one of the hanging boxes. It looked up and a snarl came through its gritted sharp teeth.

It leaped onto another box.

And then another.

Getting closer to the trio.

Harley hid behind Henry in fear. The latter sighed.

The monster looked at them.

"**GoNnA eAt YoUr AsS, bOi…**" it said darkly.

Liam cringed. "That…is too creepy."

The monster jumped onto another box. This one was nearly touching the ocean. It looked up and let out another snarl. Its eyes were burning with madness in them. It took a step back…and jumped.

SNATCH!

Only for something to grab it.

It was large massive Bendy hand. **[4]**

It grabbed the monster causing it to scream and squirm. The hand pulled the ink monster into the ocean.

There were a few bubbles of where the ink monster was before…and then…nothing.

The trio just looked down, dumbfounded.

"…or not," said Henry.

"…what are we going to do?" said Harley.

Liam shook his head. "We'll go to the other side."

Harley was shocked. "WHAT?! Are you kidding me?"

"You didn't even know what I am intending to do."

"So first we are trapped in a haunted building and NOW we have to use THOSE boxes to get to THAT corridor?"

"Yep," said Liam.

Harley shook her head. "No. Bad idea."

"It's our only choice."

Harley looked angry. "Of course not! We are not going onto THOSE boxes."

"But that is the only way to get to the other side or we will be stuck here forever."

"No way!"

"Then any plans, genius?"

Harley was taken aback by how the teen's tone of voice. She would have scolded him, but it wasn't the time to do so. She shook her head again.

"I'm not sure, but it is much safer than going onto that suicide pathway!"

"But this is a dangerous place," said Liam. "I know it's risky, but we can't stay here for any longer. If we stand around here, who knows if that hand will take our lives next!"

"That's my point!"

"Then let's just get to the other side before…I don't know. Before THIS BOARD BREAKS?!"

He pointed down at the platform they were standing on. Due to their combined weight, the wooden platform started to…crack.

Harley looked at Henry. "Henry. Please give me another idea."

Henry sighed and looked down at the ink ocean. Even though he was no stranger to danger, he hesitated. He almost died once from that damn hand and it wouldn't be fun to be pulled into the ink ocean. They might drown and suffocate. But the platform was going to break. They had to move NOW.

Henry finally came with an answer. "He's…right, Harley. We have to jump across the boxes."

"W-what?!" said Harley.

The platform was about to fall apart.

"NOW!" screamed Liam.

He grabbed the two adults' hands and pulled them off, jumping onto one of the hanging boxes. The platform finally gave way and collapsed. The wooden planks fell into the ocean with loud 'PLOP', never to be seen again.

As the trio landed onto the box, it started to swing through the air. They all hung onto the chain while keeping their feet on the box to avoid falling off. Harley winced as she looked down at the dreaded ink ocean.

"This is bad…" said Harley. "This is VERY bad."

"Chill," said Liam flatly.

"No way. This is VERY bad. I don't think I can handle this."

Henry placed his hand onto Harley's shoulder. "Harley. We can do this."

"I-I can't," said Harley doubtfully. "I'm not that strong or acrobatic. I can't go through those boxes."

"C'mon. You can do this. It's OK if you can't do it. I believe in you."

There was a minute of silence. Harley nodded, but was still unsure about the situation they were in.

"Let's go," said Liam once the box stopped moving.

He was the first onto the next hanging box. Henry grabbed Harley's hand and helped her jump from box to box. Harley was shaking, worried as they might fall into the ink ocean. They took steady jumps on every hanging box. They had to hang onto them whenever the box they landed on swung from side to side.

They continued to jump from box to box for 30 minutes without talking. Some boxes were too high and some were too close to the ink ocean, but they were getting exhausted. To their surprise, the ink hand didn't come out and grabbed them. They wondered why that stubborn hand decided to stay in the ocean.

After a long time of swinging and jumping, they were about 3 boxes away from the other side of the room.

"OK," said Henry. "A few more to go."

Still holding onto Harley's hand, Henry jumped onto the next hanging box. He was able to bring himself and Harley onto the next box.

Then, it was Liam's turn.

"OK," called Henry. "It's your turn!"

"Alright!" said Liam.

He jumped…only for…

**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

Something fell on Liam causing him to fall down with the ink ocean beneath him! Quickly, he grabbed one of the hanging boxes with his right hand.

"What the hell was that?" he said looking up.

His stomach dropped as the figure that dropped on him was standing on the box he was holding onto.

It was Bendy.

The Ink Demon.

It looked down on Liam with a wicked smile, twitching violently.

"Oh…" said Liam sheepishly. "Uh…hi?"

The Ink Demon's reply was to let out a roar. Liam screamed. The Ink Demon then decided to play a game.

It took out a KNIFE and raised it over its head.

"Oh no…" said Liam in dread.

The Ink Demon swung the knife at Liam who quickly let go and landed onto a box that was floating on the ink ocean. Liam nearly lost his balance as he felt the ink waves brushing his boots.

"Liam!" called Harley. "Look out!"

Liam looked up to see the Ink Demon flying straight towards him. The blonde teen got into an attack position, ready to fight, until…

SNATCH!

The hand popped out from the ocean and grabbed the Ink Demon. The demon let out a screech before it was pulled into the ocean. There were a few bubbles that appeared from the ink…before silence.

Liam just stared in the distance dumbfounded.

Both Henry and Harley just looked at Liam speechless.

"Let's just get the hell out of here," said Liam.

"Good idea," said Henry shaking.

Liam quickly got back onto the hanging boxes and joined the two adults. The trio got onto the remaining hanging boxes and landed onto the other side of the room. They managed to land safely on the platform that led to the next corridor.

"That was close," said Liam.

"I hope we don't go through these things again," muttered Harley.

Henry looked at Liam. "Liam. Please continue your…'story'. I want to know more."

Liam sighed. "As you wish."

* * *

**Liam's POV**

_Picking off from where I left off, when Mitchell and I turned 7 years old, our family moved to Orlando. Mum got a new job there and we stayed in a small house. It wasn't grand, but at least the rent was cheap and the taxes weren't too bad. On the other side, Dad complained on how the house was too shabby. I couldn't expect more from him when I heard that comment._

_We weren't out of danger yet._

_Remember when I said we were stepping into the next stage of conflict?_

_Yep._

_And it happened at school._

_On our first day of school, I was quite…excited. Even though I missed my old school, I just couldn't wait to make new friends. Even better, this school didn't have ANY uniform regulations, so we could wear anything we wanted as long as it was appropriate._

_For this, I wore an orange jacket; the same jacket I am wearing right now. Mitchell decided to wear a white jacket, blue jeans and red converse sneakers, so that nobody could think that we were both the same person…even though I have ocean blue eyes while he have azure blue eyes. We both had the same hairstyle; our wavy hair combed to the right._

_When we both arrived at our new school…I'm not going to lie. I was kind of scared of what would happen there. To my dismay, Mitchell and I were separated into different classes. But we didn't bother that though. We both minded our own business in our new class._

_At this, for the first time, I saw a…difference between the two of us. I wanted to work hard at this school, so that I could get better grades and go to university. I had big ideas, so that I could impress my Dad and help the family. Mitchell – on the other hand – was more interested in hanging out with friends. He found a few and he was happy. I was pretty disapproved that the friends he talked to were weirdos and slackers. They hardly do anything and as a result, Mitchell's grades lowered._

_Whenever Mitchell came back home with a score that was below the halfway point, Dad would be the one to yell at him._

"_What the hell did you do?!" snarled Dad during one day when Mitchell got 49% on a quiz. "Are you really THAT stupid?!"_

"_N-no, Dad!" protested Mitchell shaking. "I-It isn't going to affect our grades and-"_

_Suddenly, Dad slapped Mitchell to the ground. "DON'T MAKE EXCUSES LIKE THAT! Pathetic. You weeping little baby."_

_I could sense the bitterness in Dad's mouth. I winced at that scene. When I showed him MY score, he just scoffed and called me a 'dumb-ass'._

_And that was the least of our problems._

_It was during the 9th_ _day at school. I was trying to find a table to sit at. Most of the kids wanted me to sit with them, but I didn't like them. I found a small table with two seats. I decided to find Liam so that he could sit next to me, but I couldn't see him in the cafeteria._

_A scream could be heard in the halls, so I ran off to see what was going on. I turned around the corner and what I saw was…horrifying._

_Mitchell was pinned against a locker with those strong crowd of teenagers. He looked…scared._

_I didn't know what to do; either run away or fight. Obviously, I chose to fight._

_After all, I AM Mitchell's brother._

_Hesitantly, I decided to walk towards them._

"_Where's the money, weakling?" growled the bully who held Mitchell by the collar._

"_P-Please!" cried Mitchell through tears. "I-I'm sorry! I just couldn't get the money back to you. Give me a chance!"_

_Hearing this, I was confused._

"_Maybe we should rub the floor with your face!" snarled the bully._

_Just before they could hurt Mitchell, I stepped in._

"_HEY!" I called. "Leave him alone!"_

"_Says who?" sneered one of the bullies._

"_Me! I'm HIS twin brother."_

_The bullies looked at me in surprise…before laughing at me._

_Naturally, my Dad would angrily insult me for no reason, but being laughed at…that was a whole new level._

"_Leave us alone, kid," hissed another bully. "You can just walk away and forget about your brother."_

"_NO WAY!" I said back. "I won't give him up on anything."_

_The bullies just pushed me on the floor. Mitchell watched with teary eyes._

"_How about you go back to your home and cry to your mama?" said the bully leader. "Oh, wait! Maybe she is just lying on her bed, crying about her stupid boyfriend!"_

_I was pissed._

_If there was one thing I hated more than being looked down was somebody mocking my mother._

_And I won't let her misery end in despair._

_In a fit of rage, I grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and blasted a stream of white foam at the bullies. They all screamed as they were struck. This caused attention and that was when a teacher saw what happened._

_We were sent to the principal's office. It turned out that the bully leader was the principal's son and he convinced her that his group were 'innocent'. In the end, Mitchell and I were sent to detention for a week straight while the bullies went off scout-free._

_From that day on, Mitchell and I became everyone's favorite punching bags. There was a never-ending number of bullies tormenting us. They spat spitballs at us or gave us a wedgie or placed notes on our lockers or pushed us to the ground or threatened us to give them our homework. AND THEY WERE NEVER GOT CAUGHT. At that school, there was never a grown-up around when you needed one. I started begging my Mum to make us go back to another home, but she had her own problems. Apparently, she was struggling with her job and I didn't want to stress her out, so I decided to let it be._

_We stayed at the school for a few years. When we reached 11 years old, we…changed. I noticed that I became…a bit rude. I didn't swear at that age, but I always made a snarky, deadpanned or sarcastic comment whenever people were clueless. I became this 'Mr Know-It-All' and everyone knew about it. I tried my best to be kinder – even most of the students tried to help – but that failed sadly. I was becoming more frustrated of being abused, so I couldn't help, but act rude._

_Meanwhile, Mitchell became worse. He was always getting into trouble. He didn't do his homework. He wasn't afraid of what he had to say on his mind. He avoided a lot of people. He slacked off and only had his mind on sports. He was still nice to me, but I was concerned about him._

_One day at lunchtime, I was sitting next to Mitchell on the same table I chose in the first place. We spotted…this girl. She was sitting at another table all by herself. Unlike the other girls, she wasn't wearing any earrings, skirts, makeup or pink._

_She looked…lonely._

_She was just picking on her food, gazing off in the background. I wondered why she was sitting by herself. Then, I saw a group of girls saying nasty things about her. She must had heard them and bowed her head sadly. I felt sorry for her._

_I stood up from my table with my food tray._

"_Huh?" said Mitchell. "What are you doing?"_

"_Making a new friend," I said plainly as I walked over to that girl._

_I arrived at her table and set my food tray down._

"_Hey," I said._

_The girl looked at me, giving me a suspicious look. "What?"_

"_I was just saying 'hey'."_

"_W…what do you want?"_

"…_do you mind if I can sit next to you?"_

_The girl stared at me for a while with those soul-piercing silver eyes. She sighed and looked down._

"_Sure."_

_I sat down. I noted that she didn't seem to be friendly. Mitchell came over to me and sat next to her._

"_Hey, Ruby!" he said._

"_Wait," I said confused. "You know her?"_

"_Why yes. She is in my class. I don't remember her full name, but I know that her last name is 'Ruby'. The teachers always like to refer to people by their last name."_

_The girl stared at Mitchell. "Really? 'Ruby'?"_

"_It's a good name," said Mitchell._

"_Why are you doing this?"_

_I raised my eyebrow. "Why's that?"_

"_Why are you being so…nice to me?"_

_I shrugged. "You just look lonely. I thought you need a friend."_

_Ruby let out a fake laugh. "Did someone forces you to 'befriend' me so that you lot can mess with me?"_

_I was taken aback. "What?! No! Why do you think like that?"_

_Ruby sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. It is just that…I find it hard to be around other people. This place is torture. Most people here would rather see me dead, but…for you…you're a nice change of pace."_

"_Why do you sit on your own?" asked Mitchell. "I always see you moping around and never interact with anyone."_

"_Avoiding the pain," answered Ruby. "I…I won't talk about what happens back at my home, but this school…is pretty obvious for everyone. We are all 11 years old now, right? We are in middle school. You are no longer a kid, the security has stopped, kids separated by ranks, the weak are picked on and everyone is trying to catch up on what's hot in the media. And the people you know since kindergarten won't even talk to you anymore."_

"_That's a bit rash," I said._

"_It IS rash. The teachers are…oblivious to this because whenever someone tries to tell the truth, they would just listen to what the 'cool guys' say because they are more 'smarter'. Like bullies."_

_I gulped. A dark look shone in Mitchell's eyes._

"_It looks like you have been fighting for your whole life to survive," I said sarcastically._

_Ruby smiled. "I did. But I DO wish to have some company, so…you two can hang around with me."_

_Mitchell grinned. "Thanks. By the way, I'm Mitchell."_

"_And my name is Liam," I said politely._

_So, for a few months, Mitchell and I had become friends with Ruby. Now to note that during that time, I never knew her real name, but we settle with 'Ruby'. She never told us of her past, so we didn't bother to ask each other questions. However, I did ONCE told her about my problems at home. I made her promise not to tell anyone about it…especially to Mitchell because I knew he wouldn't be comfortable about talking about our father._

_Ruby, Mitchell and I hung out with each other and this was a good way for me to break away from my abusive dad. Sadly, this meant I wasn't around to support Mum. Nevertheless, she told me it was good to hang around with some new friends and even said once that...Mitchell and I had a...eh...'thing' with Ruby. I thought she was joking._

_However, as time flew by, I noticed something...a bit strange. Mitchell always had his eyes on Ruby, stars sparkling on his face. He seemed to be a bit too...well...GRABBY whenever around Ruby. I was suspicious at first, but I decided to leave it. That was until I saw him blushing red whenever Ruby was around._

_Then it hit me; Mitchell had a CRUSH on Ruby. Mum was half right. I was disgusted because of that. Why? I was never interested in love. During that time, I never had any romantic feelings for anyone. I never knew how love was like. I decided to let Mitchell 'have' Ruby, but I must have made a mistake._

_Mitchell asked Ruby out for dates, but Mitchell was going a bit too far. He would try to kiss Ruby on the lips or cheeks, but Ruby managed to stop him. I was spying on them – well Mitchell knew because he looked nervous whenever I was hiding – to make sure Mitchell didn't do anything drastic._

_One day, something happened._

* * *

**AN: What happened? _What happened?_ Well, we have to find out in the next chapter. **

**[1] I decided to make Jace half-white and half-Japanese because he is voiced by **_**Tomokazu Sugita**_** (again, if this story was made into a movie.) ****OctoReader came up with this idea.**

**[2]_ Fanfiction_ is mentioned in this story! Sorry to the _Fanfiction_ _Team_, if you guys don't like it. I'll probably take it down soon.**

**[3] _Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Hearts_ is a popular cartoon from _Cartoon Network_. Many people like that cartoon this year, so I decided to put this little gem in! **

**[4] Oh, I loved the part in _Bendy And The Ink Machine_ where Henry has to go across a long ink river while avoiding a large inky hand (spoilers!). I decided to add it in.**

**For this chapter, here are the backgrounds about the remaining characters. Just to note, these three characters are members of the Black Skulls.**

_**Damien**_**_ Wolfbane_ is a major/minor character. He is made by _SuperKirbyLand234 _and possibly voiced by _Ed Sheeran_. Excluding Liam, he is probably the standoffish and stoic person of the main cast. He doesn't show that much emotions and acts sane. Despite acting cold, he doesn't insult people. He is a good person with a sensitive soul. In this story, he is the intelligent member as he was able to build the 'Gold Strap' bus. As already said in this chapter, he has scars on his arms and he has a bad backstory which will be explained in the next chapter (alike to the prologue of _Light of Hope_. I'm sorry if Damien's background is a bit too similar, SuperKirbyLand234).**

_**Alissa Belladonna**_** is a major/minor character. She is made by _SecretStarr101 _and possibly voiced by _Keke Palmer_. Similar to the author and to the main character of her ongoing story '_Welcome To Mobius'_, Alissa is obviously a tomboy. She wears dark clothing, she hates 'girly things' and is afraid of heights. She is a bit indifferent which is why she hangs out with the Black Skulls. She can be sarcastic at times but isn't as worse as Clyde though. Despite being aloof, she isn't reserved and honest. She is polite and doesn't show that much hostility to others that much (even though she feels uncomfortable towards Bendy, she quickly warms up to him, but slowly).**

**_Steven 'Sven' Johansson_ is a major/minor character. He is made by _Zoggerific_ and possibly voiced by _Tara Strong_. OK. _Zoggerific_ is the one who came up with using _Tara Strong_ as Sven's voice. It was a bit funny. We were deciding about how Sven would be like and _Zoggerific_ thought it would be funny if Sven is voiced by a girl; so that's why in the first chapter his voice is described as a bit weird and deep by Elena. Sven claims to be Swedish and does this by speaking in Swedish at sometimes (only once in Chapter 3), but is actually Greek. As usual, he is somewhat a 'ladies man' and like to be the center of attention (whether it's good or bad). He is narcissistic and arrogant. However, in this story, I gave him a level of kindness. He doesn't openly bully others or doesn't care about anything. He has some moments when he isn't selfish and acts friendly to others. And oh, he has a hatred for Irish and Jace's rival**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you enjoy this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please leave a review below on how you think this story is (no flames though).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	6. 5 - A Little Bit Nasty

**AN: Hey there! I'm back with another chapter! I'm sorry that I have been away. Just to note until the 8th of January, I may not be able to upload more chapters. At the moment, I am on holiday in Malaysia and let's just say...certain Malaysian networks hate this website (Fanfiction is actually banned in Malaysia for certain reasons). Sorry, everyone, but updates will be slow, so hopefully I will continue this story when I get back from my holiday.**

**Again, I like to warn you readers, in this chapter will have a lot of disturbing content. If you find this frightening, try not to read this chapter. If anyone is concern about this, please let me know and I might change the rating to M if possible.**

**Nevertheless, thanks to Infinite's Ruby and TheGameNguyener for reviewing and following this story. Hopefully the other authors who helped me with the story will review soon. Also, thanks to Draancia7877 for following this story.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – A Little Bit Nasty**

**Third Person's POV, ?**

Liam trailed off upon saying 'something happened'.

"Liam?" asked Henry. "Are you OK?"

Liam quickly snapped out from his gaze. "What? Sorry. It's just that...this...'thing' will be...pretty offending."

"Offensive?" said Henry. "In what way?"

He looked at Harley who gave back a meaningful way.

Liam sighed. "Just...apologies for what I am going to say next. I wasn't old enough to see this type of stuff and I can't remove them from my head."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "What is this 'thing'?"

Liam sighed. "Well-"

"Uh…" said Harley. slowly pointing her finger upwards. "…guys?"

Henry and Liam slowly looked to the front. What they saw was…disturbing.

They entered a new room with many ink writings on the walls. Many of them were _'LET ME OUT!', 'I HATE THIS PLACE.', 'HE WILL SET US FREE!', 'DOWN HERE, WE'RE ALL SINNERS.', 'HE WILL SAVE US!'_ and '_THERE IS NO WAY OUT!_" along with the writings '_HA, HA, HA!_' scribbled all over the place; including on the ceilings and floor. There was a mini pentagram on the left side with candles and a Bendy cardboard stand in the middle.

"OK…" said Liam. "That's creepy."

"Right," said Henry nervously.

He remembered back in the haunted studio, he encountered a LOT of writings…and when he meant a LOT, he REALLY meant a LOT of writings on the walls, ceilings and floors, all drawn in ink. Usually, those writings would give Henry a direction of where to go, but THIS room? Well…it was…nugatory.

"Henry?" said Harley as she looked around. "Have you seen this kind of…stuff before?"

"I have," said Henry. "Usually, this guides me to the next path, but…this…this room is pretty pointless."

"Huh?" said Liam, spotting something. "What's this?"

"What?" said Henry.

"Look."

The young blonde teen was pointing to a cassette tape. It was on a neat small desk. It appeared to be covered with a few ink stains.

"Oh…" said Henry sadly.

It was one of those tapes he seen. Back in the old days, his company used those tapes as diaries to record what was going on in the studio. Henry found several of them back in the haunted studio, most of them were from the staff. Using these tapes, he connected the dots of how the studio became corrupted. Maybe that tape there could help.

"Let's see," said Henry coming up to the tape.

He pressed play.

A static noise filled the air before a man's voice could be heard.

"_Eh…hello?_" came out from the tape. The voice sounded really anxious. "_Is this thing on? OK. Good. Good. I don't have much time left. I live in San Francisco. I don't know who is going to hear this, but if anyone hears this…but please, if anyone finds this…last night I was with Mitchell Von Richmond and he led me to some place and the last thing I remembered was being knocked out. The next thing I knew, I saw this man all dressed in black and had a brown coat on…he…he tried to kill me, saying that I was a 'sacrifice' to be made. I quickly ran away from him, but I…_"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Knocking could be heard. Henry looked around, but only reminded himself that it was just from the tape.

"_…I know that I can't run away from him for this long…but please, if anyone finds this, please let my family know…_"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"_…I'm stuck here in this unknown place, so please find me. I don't know what to do._"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"_And also, do me a favor. Please find Mitchell._"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"_I don't know where he is or what has happened to him, but something bad happened to him! Please find him and bring him back safely._"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"_And if so, please question him about the whole situation. He's been acting weird ever since I met him._"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"_…I always wonder what was going on with him._"

Out of the blue, a weird demon chime could be heard from the tape.

"_Yeah…I…I…wait…I forgot to say my name…_"

A deep moan could be heard.

"_Oh no…_"

There were mysterious noises until a loud screech blasted out from the tape. Henry, Harley and Liam flinched in fear until a static could be heard. Then, this;

"_Oh god, no!_" came back the man's voice with several noises in the background. "_No, no, no, no, no! Please! Give me mercy! I don't want to die! I have a family!_"

"**_I'm sorry about that,_**" said another voice. "**_But you have to leave behind your family to bless the lord._**"

"_P-please! No! No!_"

"**_Don't worry. Once he sacrifice yourself, you will be free from your life, little sheep._**"

"_NOOOOOOOOOOO!_"

Nobody needed to know what was heard on the tape. There was a mixture of screaming, light flashing and limbs torn apart. And then…the sound of silence played through the air.

Harley gasped. "That...that voice."

"Harley?" said Henry.

All of a sudden, Harley started to breath heavily. Her shoulders were shaking. She held onto her chest and started to break down. She dropped to the floor and placed her hands over her face, crying. Henry was speechless. Liam was shocked.

"Wait," said Henry, remembering that dark voice he thought he would never hear again. "S-Sammy?"

"What?" said Liam.

"Sammy Lawrence!" said Henry, his heart racing. "He…he's here! After all this time, I thought he died or ran off, but he must have escaped death so quickly."

"Screw Sammy!" screamed Harley, getting up. "Did you hear that voice on the tape?"

She played it again at the final part.

"_Oh god, no! No, no, no, no, no! Please! Give me mercy! I don't want to die! I have a family!_"

Liam's face turned pale. "It…it sounds familiar."

"It's Hawk!" cried Harley, tears rolling down her eyes. "Hawk Tiffany! My…my…"

Henry gasped. He looked down to see two golden rings on Harley's left hand with one golden ring on her right. They looked like…engagement rings.

"You're married?!" exclaimed Henry.

"Yes!" bawled Harley. "My husband! All this time I thought he went out to another country when he…when he…DARN IT! HOW COME I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"

She put her face onto the table and sobbed hysterically. She couldn't believe that Hawk – her husband – had been killed. Liam sympathetically patted her on the shoulder.

"Well…" said Liam sadly. "Mitchell…he led Hawk to this place. Maybe he took his life to start all of this. And then…Mitchell accidentally got killed…"

What? A sacrifice? An offering? An innocent life?

IMPOSSIBLE.

In a fit of rage, Henry slammed his fist onto the desk. This caused pain, but there were no bruises on his hand. The same couldn't be said for the desk as it was made from wooden. The table broke into half. Harley wasn't bother of that, still drowned in her tears.

"**Damn it!**" yelled Henry. "This place is…is…so EVIL! Whoever did this must be as corrupted as Sammy. T-this can't go on for any longer!"

"What are we going to do?" whimpered Harley.

Henry turned to Harley to see her watery eyes. She looked hopeless, lost and scared. Liam was concerned. When the teen looked at the elder man's eyes, he could see the fire burning in Henry's eyes.

"We stick to the plan," said Henry. "We continue our journey and head to the pentagram. We will erase it once and for all!"

Harley smiled despite being grief-struck by the death of a loved one. She slowly got up trembling with the help of Liam.

"Let's go," said Henry, a cold determination flashing in front of him.

**UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHH...**

The trio stopped hearing a mysterious groan. They looked around. They noticed that ink was dripping down from the walls.

"What?" said Harley, trying to progress of what was happening, even after hearing the news that her husband was killed. "What is going on?"

"…does anyone have butterflies in their stomach?" said Henry looking around at the dripping ink.

"Yep."

"I guess that all of us ate caterpillars for breakfast," said Liam sarcastically.

**MoOoOoOoAaAaAaAaNnN…**

"Oh no…" said Henry.

They all looked towards a nearby hallway. For some reason, it was…starting to darken.

"Oh dear…" said Harley.

"Wait," said Liam taking out a torchlight.

He pressed the black stick on and a light shone at the dark hallway. To their surprise, the hallway led to a dead end with a print out of a character. It was a tall, puppet-like character with skinny black arms, a floating circular white head with black eyes and a line for a mouth. **[1]**

"What the hell is that?" said Henry.

"That's weird," said Liam. "I expected a jump scare or something."

"A jump scare?" said Harley a bit confused.

"Yeah. Never heard of one?"

"I'm…I'm sorry. I never heard of one before."

"Well, it's a horror technique of something that happens unexpectedly and suddenly, sometimes popping out from nowhere. For example, there can be a monster behind us right now!"

And oh, there WAS one.

**SCCCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

From behind them, an ink monster popped out from the floor and let out a blood-curdling screech. Henry, Harley and Liam all screamed and turned around to face the monster.

It was black.

And hairy.

And ugly.

"Oh no…" said Henry again.

From the corner of his eyes, Henry spotted more ink monsters lurking into the room. To his surprise, they were taller, buffer and more hideous than a newborn baby.

"That's not good," said Liam.

The monsters surrounded the three humans at a corner of the room. Henry stood in front of Harley and Liam.

"This is not good," said Harley. "We aren't armed with anything."

Henry sighed and rolled up his sleeves. "Looks like I'm gonna have to fight them with my-"

WHACK!

Something hit him in the head. It was a flying wooden board.

Stars danced in front of his eyes and before he knew it, he felt a big pain in his brain and he fell onto the ground. His vision began to blur and saw an unknown figure coming up to him.

"**Rest your head,**" it said in a familiar voice Henry knew. "**It's time for bed.**"

The voice sent chills in his spine.

"HENRY!" cried Harley.

Henry could only mumble out something.

"N-not again…"

That was the last thing he said before he blacked out.

* * *

**Bendy's POV (at 11:45 am)**

It had been a few hours since we fought against those ink monsters and at that moment, everyone was quiet. There was silence except for the roar of the bus' engine. I was sitting in one pile of bean bags in lost thought. Things got a bit awkward.

"This is…a bit quiet in here," said Laura.

"Yep," said Spider. "It sure is."

I stood up. "Well…since we have a lot of time, do we have an ACTUAL plan?"

Draco sighed. "Not really. All I know is to get pass those monsters, get to where the Ink Machine is and destroy it."

I smiled hearing that. That's what I wanted to do in the first place. I just hoped that Henry and Joey wouldn't mind that.

"That sounds a bit too easy," said Alissa. "There's a lot of activity out there."

As she spoke, she pointed out the window to show a squadron of ink monsters flying in a large formation, sounding like a squadron of bombers.

"Geez," said Clyde, combing the now gold streak on his hair. "Looks like there must be at least a thousand of those bloody bastards."

"Language!" I said.

"Sorry…"

"You can say that again…" Laura mumbled.

I slowly looked out the window. I saw that we were driving through an abandoned town. To my surprise, all the buildings were still standing despite slightly covered in ink. Many cars had holes in their windows. The ghost town was pretty dead.

Draco stood up and told Damien to stop the bus. The latter obediently nodded and parked the bus at a nearby shopping mall.

"OK," said Draco. "Be right back. I'm going to get some food for us to eat."

"Wait," said Jace. "But I have some food for all of us to share."

Draco wrinkled his nose. "I don't think it would be considered a 'food'."

"Why's that?"

"When I first saw it, you were just carrying bags of raw meat and vegetables. Both of them would be rotten by now."

Jace scoffed. "'Rotten'? Oh please. They were fresh when I got them. Look."

He took out the food supplies we got from Spider's house and lifted them high for all of us to see.

I wasn't even close, but the wet bags gave off a putrid smell. I cringed upon catching a whiff of the smell.

"Yuck…" said Clyde.

"Maybe you should have taken the other food from the small pantry," said Spider, eyeing the yellow-stained bags.

Draco sighed. "This is pretty foul. The germs from the meat would have spread onto the vegetables now. Besides, we don't have a fridge to keep them frozen and it's already too late."

Jace looked embarrassed. "Whoops. My bad."

"Thanks for trying," said Elena, rubbing her face.

"Please throw them away," said Sven. "I'm not going to die by choking on THIS gas."

Jace just threw the bag at Draco.

"Alright…" said Draco, uncomfortable of holding the pile of dirty food. "I'll just throw them in the bin."

"Hold on," said Lucy. "What are you going to get from that mall?"

"Food that can last in room temperature. Also, I'm going to get some canned food, so that we can heat them up. After all, we have a mini campfire set on the bus."

Wait, what?

"There's a campfire?" I said surprised. "Isn't that risky to do so?"

"I'll explain it to you later," said Draco making his way out from the bus.

Elena stood up and went near to the exit of the bus.

"Draco," said Elena. "I'll come with you."

Draco looked at her. "…I'm not so sure about that."

"At least you don't have to go on your own. Besides, I REALLY need some fresh air."

Draco shrugged. "OK then. Just stay next to me."

Elena hopped off and caught up with Draco. Laura headed towards the exit.

"I'll keep a look out for any monsters," said Laura.

"Good," said Draco. "You're on watch duty. If the two of us don't return in 40 minutes, either go out and find us or just drive off."

"You're sure about that?"

"Trust me. We will be alright."

"Wait!" I said, coming off the bus. "Let me come with you two."

Elena hesitated. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Just feel like you two need company."

Elena opened her mouth, but Draco spoke. "Sure."

I smiled and jumped onto Elena's shoulders.

"You're just a kid," whispered Elena. "You shouldn't be out here."

"I'm 30 years old and I know the pros and cons of those monsters," I said. "Please."

At this, Draco and Elena walked away from the bus while I sat on Elena's shoulders. Draco stopped and placed the 'food' bag into a bin. As we made our way to the mall, I noticed that everything was silent.

"That's strange," I said. "Shouldn't there be any ink monsters out here?"

Draco shrugged. "Maybe they already beat this place to us, so they went off."

"Guess so. Normally, whenever they finish off killing…possessing…I don't know what they do, but they will go off to find more hosts in populated areas. Only a small number of them will hang out in isolated places."

I noticed that Elena sometimes looked at Draco. She seemed to be…uncomfortable. Draco noticed this.

"I get it," he said. "I won't blame you."

"Wait, what?" said Elena. "Oh no, no, no. I was just-"

"Let me guess; you are intimidated when you're with a black guy wearing black, am I right?"

I bit my lip. Draco sounded a bit hurt.

Elena shook her head. "You know that I'm dark-skinned as well…except slightly."

Draco sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that…I get disturbed when people stare at me. Even though discrimination is no more in America, that doesn't mean people won't stop hating each other for their skin color."

"No. The reason why I'm feeling uncomfortable is because…I'm starting to think I should go back on the bus. I don't like it when I'm around boys."

"Why's that?" I said.

"Is it because back at your home, boys can be perverts, weirdos, nerds and like to do rape?" said Draco bluntly.

Suddenly, Elena's face turned pale as a ghost. Her eyes widened and she let out a short gasp. Again, she looked…traumatized. This time, she quickly recovered.

"Shut up," she said.

"Sorry," said Draco. "Just trying to help."

We reached the mall and Draco opened the door. To our surprise, the lights and electricity were still on. The place was slightly messy. There were ink stains on the floor and some of the products from the shelves were tipped over. There was nobody in the mall except for us three.

"Wow," said Elena. "This looks like the aftermath of a rave party."

"Good thing we are not old enough to drink yet," said Draco sarcastically.

I slowly jumped off Elena and looked around. It was too quiet and secluded. I spotted a nearby magazine on the floor. I picked it up to inspect it. It was dripping ink and the binder was falling apart. Whatever the monsters did in this mall wasn't good.

"Now where is the canned food section?" said Draco, picking up a basket and looked through the different categories of products.

Elena and I followed Draco. It took us a while to find the canned food section. While looking through the shelves, I noticed that the…eh…'events'…happening in the mall were…disconcerting.

We came across two ink monsters lying on the floor, a strange green foam bubbling out from their mouths. Both of them were holding salt and sugar shakers.

"What the…?" said Elena.

Draco came close and prodded one of them with his boot. "Oh boy. I guess these monsters can suffer from diabetes."

"Are they dead?" I asked.

"Not pretty sure. Let's just claim that they are in a coma-like state."

We continued on. At one point, we saw an ink monster on the floor, spazzing out. Its arms were flailing like a retard and there was an empty box – with the words 'Lady Sativa' – next to it.

"**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo…!**" it exclaimed.

"That's a bit too high," said Elena flinching.

Draco smirked. "Imagine if they ate too much drugs."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," I said as I stared at the drugged ink monster.

We were close to the canned food section. We came across another ink monster. It was lying on the floor with its chest opened. There was a lot of popcorn on top of the body.

"What the hell is this?" said Elena.

"Language!" I said.

Draco bent down and placed his hand on his chin. "It appears that this monster ate a lot of uncooked popcorn and the internal heat of the body started cooking them, causing the popcorn to start popping and blow the guts apart."

I shook my head. "This is getting out of control. We REALLY need to stop that Ink Machine and it's not only getting bitten is the only problem."

"No need to see why," said Elena.

We finally made it to the canned food section. Draco grabbed almost every can on the shelf – from soup, vegetables, beans and other things – that could be cooked or eaten.

"Ooh!" I said, pointing to a specific row of cans. "Can we get those?"

Draco and Elena looked at where I was pointing at. It was a large group of bacon soup from the Joey Drew Studios! My favorite.

Elena looked annoyed. "Of course. Of course. You would ALWAYS choose this type of soup."

"Isn't that soup a bit eh…outdated?" said Draco.

"Well, it is the best soup in the world!" I said happily. "It contains a lot of vitamins and nutrients to keep your body healthy! That MEANS you, Elena."

"Again," said Elena. "I'm not THAT old. I just bleach my hair, get over with it."

"OK then," said Draco, grabbing several cans of bacon soup.

A question came into my mind. I thought about how he seemed to be nervous when around with us, including the fact that he was nearly the black one out from the entire group. I even remembered how the members of the Black Skulls refused to tell about their past. And let's not forget that Pitbull didn't talk.

"Draco?" I said. "Now I thought about it…how AND why did you form the Black Skulls? Is…is there a reason?"

Draco's face darkened. "…there is a reason why I formed the Black Skulls."

Elena looked concerned. "OK then."

"What about it?" I said.

Elena quickly placed her hand over my mouth. "Let's not make things too uncomfortable. Besides, we have to-"

"I'll explain to you all," said Draco. "While we get everything we need."

* * *

**Draco's POV**

_From your view, how do you see the world?_

_Cute and awesome?_

_Harsh and hard?_

_Or worse?_

_I guess that none of us will know exactly the truth._

_I always want the world to be a peaceful one._

_I was wrong…eventually._

_I am putting the pieces of completing the puzzle, but there are too many pieces scattered around for me to pick up._

_The place I was born in was Africa…obviously. Urgh…I pretty should stop talking about this racism s**t. It doesn't really help me that much._

_I don't really know where I was born, but I know that where I was born was hell._

_I was born and lived in an African country with my mother and father. We were a bit poor, but I was happy that I have a family. The place we lived in was a terrorist country. I didn't know what was going on, but I know that the military and rebels marched through the humid and broken streets._

_My mother and father worked hard, trying to get enough money to get food and water supplies. I offered to help, but I was too young back then._

_I get to go to school and always listened to what the teacher would have to say. As time went by, I became one of the brightest bulbs of the classroom. So good, that I skipped 8 grades and got several achievements at the age of 10 years old. It's not only Damien who is the smart one from my squad. I was able to help out with my parents and they were happy._

_When I turned 11, they announced that we were going to leave our home._

_I wasn't happy to hear that, asking why they wanted to leave. Sure, the place was horrific, but I didn't care about the awful state the country was in. I was quite happy about going to the same school and talking with the other children._

_Nevertheless, my parents told me that the place we lived in was a bad place and if I ignored them, I would have to live up a f***ing life in the country…OK. They didn't swear at me, but I get it. They just wanted to be away from danger. At a young age, I didn't understand why as we were safe in our hometown._

_Despite my protests, they moved the whole family to Brooklyn, the place where we all live now._

_When I went to that school on the first day, I was…nervous. Even though there were other people with the same skin color, I noticed that the school was different. Almost everyone was tuned into trends, pop media and any other useless junk. I was SO behind._

_I tried to mingle with other kids, but I was mostly an outcast._

_However, Laura welcomed me and we became close friends. She even made me join the school council. I was one of the best members of the council as I was a good voice to everyone._

_I acquainted with some other students. Some of them were nice to me. Some of them had other things to do. For bullies, well they feared ME since I know better than them._

_I like Spider, Jace and Lucy. I always see those three together like a group of ducklings. While Lucy seemed to be nervous around me, Spider and Jace were cool towards me. Jace was a bit too…edgy and shifty whenever in conversations. I didn't like his sharp character. Spider was a bit…odd to say. He was pretty much the idiot of the school. I never really know why._

_I befriended other students. There was Clyde, but he was pretty sarcastic and nearly jaded with everything. Pretty much having a well-mannered and civilized personality must have made him a know-it-all. Fritz was a dynamite, even though he could be snarky like Clyde. Ariel was a popular girl and she TRIED to give me tips on how to look handsome. Key word: TRIES. There were other students that caught my interest._

_One day, I bumped into Sven. He was hanging out with these silly girls as his followers. Sven noticed me and decided to make fun of how I looked. I was pissed hearing his insults, so I decided to say something back._

_"Well compared to my brain, yours is as small as a rat," I said. "And compared to this school, yours is as small as a semen."_

_Anyone watching this would gasp out loud. Trying to prove me wrong, Sven showed off his body AND his talents to claim that he isn't dumb. His 'performances' were just weird. I quickly ran off when he was about to take off his pants._

_I was glad that I managed to get away from him. I started to wonder why he was acting as if he wanted to have the spotlight on him. Eventually, I figured out why._

_At lunchtime, I heard those silly girls talking to each other. They were talking about looking pretty, reputations, makeup and Sven, Sven, Sven, Sven, SVEN, SVEN, SVEN, SVEN. 99% of it was about Sven's sexy appearance. I was pretty disturbed of how girls these days like men for their bodies._

_Might explain why I didn't flex my muscles in front of you, Elena._

_However, I caught on guard when they started to talk about Sven's parents._

_"I wonder if his father was so hot and awesome like him."_

_"No! He doesn't have a father because his parents had a divorce when he was 7 years old!"_

_"Oh my gawd. That is almost like the best thing I've ever heard!"_

_Don't mistake them. They weren't mean to Sven and didn't laugh about his parents' divorce. They just thought that everything that happened to him was 'great'. For me, it was…heartbreaking._

_I started to wonder if Sven's parents splitting up would be why he was acting too grabby._

_I also met Alissa; back then, I saw her as this shady outcast. Unlike most of the students, she wore dark clothes and looked…dull. She didn't even dye her hair purple back then as it was black. She was just staring at nothing and barely smiled. She didn't look friendly._

_I noticed that some other students were gossiping about her, mostly pretty and popular girls. They didn't like Alissa. I wondered why almost everyone dislikes her and if she was a bad person._

_Ariel and her friends even criticized her, but they were more concerned about Alissa's behavior and mental health instead of her looks. They told me that she was a loner._

_It…bothered me._

_There was another boy named Damien. Back then, he was bright, bubbly and kind-hearted. He was a good saint and helped others in need. I always saw him helping out with tending people's wounds or doing janitorial work. He was diligent. I started to take a liking for him._

_After spending a lot of time at the school, I instantly became one of the most popular kids. I didn't really like the attention that much, but everyone likes me for my selfless and honest heart. My parents got good jobs, so they were able to make a LOT of money. We became rich, but we decided to settle in an ordinary home._

_Despite being homesick due to leaving my birthplace, I constantly asked my parents what were horrible things happened back in that country. They never explained why, but they looked…shell-shocked._

_One day, a week before I turned 13, something happened._

_My parents and I were out shopping at a mall. We were buying some new equipment for me to use at school. Even better, they were going to take me out to a special traditional restaurant for dinner AND dessert. I felt proud of myself. I felt like I got a shot of being a good citizen of America._

_All of a sudden, the sirens went on. There were these…guys dressed in some kind of…terrorist clothing. They got out their guns and immediately shoot at everyone. My parents and I quickly took cover at a tipped-over table. I got a peek through a gap in the table and what I saw was…horrible._

_People falling onto the ground._

_Screams echoing through the halls._

_Red liquid slowly flowed onto the floor._

_It was a nightmare._

_My parents found a nearby exit and we quickly ran to it to escape the mall._

_We all retreated to the car park along with the rest of the survivors. The police were called, but they were outmatched by the terrorists. Eventually, the military came over and it took them two hours to end the attack._

_When the mayhem was over, the military soldiers came out…bloodied and…upset. I saw my mother crying on the floor muttering 'not again, not again'._

_My father mumbled, "This was exactly like what happened back in our country."_

_I decided to sneak off and headed into the mall. I wanted to see what ACTUALLY happened and if there were any survivors in there. I wandered through the dark and that was when I discovered the ugly truth about humanity. About how my home was like. About how awful the world could be._

_I saw from the top of a balcony were…dead bodies all over the place. It wasn't too gory, but it was…disturbing…frightening…a holocaust. Even the children…the children unborn…and the elderly..._

_The smell of blood was noticeable._

_I looked down to see Damien at the bottom level. I saw his parents…in a pool of their own blood. He was…trembling. _

_I never seen how the world can be this cruel…by God. I broke down seeing this, unable to hold back my tears._

_Ever since the tragedy, I couldn't stop thinking about the attack. I became very paranoid of keeping people safe. Nowadays, I always came up with stupid things at the council to protect the students. I would always set up barriers so that students wouldn't do dangerous things. Sleep was no more to me. I kept thinking about the terrorist mall attack and pulled my blankets. I tossed and turned; basically a nutshell of my sleep._

_I barely get enough sleep and my parents were concerned about that. I always told them about how cruel those murderers took away innocent lives. They comforted me saying that they felt the same way too when back at our real home._

_I finally realized that the place I was born in was a warfare._

_I started to think more of how Earth was a distrustful and dangerous place to live in. I was afraid of anything that might seem dangerous. However, I started to think more of how I can help people. I didn't want anyone to be helpless or die in nobody's care. I wasn't going to sit there and let the world die. I needed to take a step forward._

_Deciding to do something FOR ONCE, I decided to open the door. I chose to change my appearance by adorning black and gold clothes. Sure, it might make me look evil, but these colors symbolized power and rebirth. I no longer wore that white blazer. Despite managing my role as a council member, I pushed myself by helping in community service and work experience; mostly cleaning up public places and helping the needy._

_I started to help out more with the people in the neighborhood and once helped the police with a criminal investigation. They said that I was too young, but I assured them that I just want to help._

_I was also thinking of making my own team as I needed all the help I could get for helping the community. I asked a few students._

_For obvious reasons, I didn't ask Spider to. Sure, he can be super, but I was a bit afraid of his…antics._

_Jace turned down the offer as he had 'things' to do. Lucy wasn't sure about it. Laura was already happy with being in the council. Clyde thought that he wouldn't be good for the offer._

_I managed to get some members. First one was Alissa._

_It was when I got my lunch when I noticed her sitting by herself. Nobody was sitting next to her. There were a few people whispering and gossiping to each other about her. Ariel was next to me, so I told her my plans. She told me to be careful as she knew that any girl that I might be meeting for the first time CAN be feisty. Most girls aren't as friendly as her._

_And she was right._

_I made my way to Alissa. I tried to act friendly, but she...she snapped back. She questioned why I was sitting next to her, catechizing if somebody sent me to do so to mess her up. I snapped back, saying that I wasn't lying and at that moment, she was acting worse than the terrorists. Upon seeing my tears, she apologized. After calming down, I then told her my plan; to make up a team as a somewhat community group to help the town. She was hesitant at first, but accepted the offer._

_After school, I decided to head to Damien's house. It was one month after the attack and nobody had seen him. When I arrived at his house, I saw that his uncle was taking care of him. This uncle looked...timid._

_He told me that I would rather leave Damien alone, but I refused._

_I made my way to see Damien. He locked himself in his room, but I managed to open the door. When I got inside, I saw Damien lying on his bed._

_With fresh new scars on his arms._

_Apparently, during that one month, he fell into depression and he started to have suicidal thoughts. Those thoughts...went out of control. His bright and kind self already faded away as he became as cold as ice._

_When he saw me, he asked what I was doing in his room. Concerned, I asked Damien why he hadn't been at school and why he had those self-inflicted scars. He blurted out about his depression and how he lost sight of himself. He didn't have the motivation to go to school or do any of the activities he enjoyed due to being so down ever since his parents' death._

_I decided to help him to break out from his misery and comfort him that his parents would still be in his heart. This helped, but Damien still acted cold and distant like how he is today. He still has a good heart, but doesn't show it that much. I asked him if he would like to join my group and he silently agreed._

_Call me crazy, but my mind tempted me to ask Sven to join. Against my will, I found myself walking towards his house. There was one part when he bragged that he was rich...and he was right._

_He lived in a large white mansion with golden accents. My jaw hit the floor when I caught the first sight of it._

_When I knocked on his door, Sven was there. He was perplexed. He asked why I visited him. I told him the offer if he wanted to join my group._

_Hearing this, Sven burst into laughter._

_He playfully taunted me why I was making a group. I bluntly told him that I wanted to help the town from danger and why. I even told him about the mall attack. By the look on his face, I could tell that he never heard that there was an attack at the mall before. In fact, he claimed that he thought that Brooklyn was already a safe place. I reminded him that there are still accidents happening, including the place we lived in._

_Sven looked reluctant. He told me that he couldn't make up his mind for the offer and asked me if I wanted a cocktail. Defeated, I decided to leave and walk off. Not before I said this;_

_"And yet, I thought you might want to join to get your mind off your parents' divorce."_

_He didn't say a word when I turned my back. The next day at school, I bumped into Sven again. To my surprise, he accepted the offer. He said that he thought about it and was eager to help._

_Soon, I found myself becoming the leader of Black Skulls. I invited a few other people to join as well. Even my cousin Pitbull joined. I gave them all leather jackets as a symbol that we are tougher than leather; strong to handle any problems._

_The Black Skulls weren't just a squad, but they were my friends and I wouldn't give up on them. I noticed there was a change ever since I formed the group._

_Sven became nicer. Of course he can be a show-off, but he wasn't too sadistic anymore._

_Alissa started to smile often and eventually became polite. She still act a bit aloof, but that's fine._

_Damien was still brooding, but he became more understanding and caring. It took me a while to snap him out of his funk._

_Alissa and Damien seemed…to have a liking to each other. It would be kind of confusing to explain it, but…last summer, they…started to like each other. I noticed this because they would blush when they look at each other's eyes._

_Yeah, I am still a member of the school council, but when outside school, I was the leader of the Black Skulls. We helped a lot of people and I was proud of myself. Many people praised me, but I like how they see me as a good-hearted person. I felt that maybe I could make the world a better place._

_Or so I thought._

* * *

**Elena's POV**

"What?" I said. "Or so you thought?"

"...it's about this..." said Draco sadly. "This whole ink mess. With the world in danger, I feel like every single human life on Earth is in my hands. I want to save the world and maybe as much as you, but...as a leader...I have a responsibility to take care of others. I'm not sure what to do. I'm not sure how I can solve all this. I'm not sure what happened to the other members."

"Others?" said Bendy confused. "But you said that there were only five of you in the Black Skulls."

Draco rubbed his face. "Oh...right. Sorry about that. That day we met, I wasn't feeling well. I had a bug that day, so I forgot to tell you that we have other people who joined us."

"OK," said Bendy. "That makes sense."

I had a question in mind. "Are those…terrorists still around?"

Draco sighed. "Some of them were killed during that attack, but the key members are still alive. They had been kept in prison, but just two weeks ago, it was reported that they…disappeared mysteriously."

Draco paused for a while before talking. "My parents went out for a business trip 2 or 3 days ago. I didn't know what happened to them now. I feared that…those terrorists must have…managed to get them before the ink monsters could."

To my surprise, I saw tears in his eyes. From the start, I saw him as this 'tough bear' persona like those boys who tried to act cool. But I remembered that he was more interested in keeping people safe, explaining how he seemed disappointed of hiding in the basement at the start of the invasion and being sympathetic about Laura's desire to find Henry. At that moment, I saw him in a new light.

I was still wary of being with boys, but I could tell Draco wasn't lying about his past. I wasn't going to let his compassionate character be erased by any prejudice views.

I decided to act nice. "I don't think so. Maybe they are still alive once we stopped the Ink Machine."

Draco nodded and wiped his tears. "Yeah…maybe."

He looked at me. "Elena. You're a good girl and a friend to me."

"Friend?" I scoffed. "We just met."

"Of course. We just met and we didn't get the chance to know each other well. But…I would like to make some new ones. As I was saying, Elena…you're awesome. You…you are pretty brave."

I looked down. "Not really?"

"Hey," said Draco. "What I heard from Clyde, you were able to take down those monsters with a gun despite being nervous to use it. I am also grateful of you to come along with me."

I nodded.

"But the thing that is bothering me is how you act sometimes. You seem to…suffer a bit from…"

I gulped. "No. It's…it's not…"

Draco frowned. "You know that your past can catch to you."

I huffed. "Maybe so…but…I feel like I can't escape."

Draco placed a hand onto my shoulder. "Yeah. It's not easy to escape, but one thing I know for sure; you gotta fight to get the best things in your life. You can't just sit down there in your sorrows, can you?"

I thought about what he said. "I…I guess you can put it that way. I just stayed quiet."

"Then say something about them. If you give up, what are the pros for you? You gotta fight for your rights, Elena. Just like what I did. If you want to make the world a better place, then you have to try and find a way to do it. Your dreams can't always be waiting for you if you do nothing."

I nodded. I wouldn't talk about my past, but I had been trying to escape all my problems, including that my parents were…gone. Like Draco said, I…I must be strong to achieve the impossible.

"You're right," I said. "But…the unexpected can happen...I'm not sure if I can do this."

"True," said Draco. "You can't do this on your own. That's why we are all together."

I rubbed my face. "Still…the world can be a questionable place…fighting for your dreams, huh…?"

I trailed off when Draco suddenly started yelling.

"Bendy!" exclaimed Draco. "What are you DOING?!"

I looked in front to see a massive Popsicle. Well…maybe 'Popsicle' wasn't the right word. It SEEMED to be a Popsicle, but it was grey with black smears on the inside AND outside. Even worse, there was a dead body of an ink monster in it; its chest opened with the intestines wrapped around the neck.

And oh, Bendy was taking a bite out of it.

"Trying this out," said Bendy through the 'creamy ice cream' in his mouth. "And I'm regretting it."

Draco made a half-smile. "Maybe we should buy that and let Clyde try it out."

I shook my head. Draco picked up the basket of food.

"C'mon," he said. "Let's go."

We headed to the exit, only for Draco to stop by at one of those decks where you pay for the products you want.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"Just leaving something behind," said Draco taking out his wallet.

At this, an ink monster popped out from behind the deck and screeched at him.

**SCREEEEEE-!**

Only for Draco to punch the monster in the face. He opened up the black money box and placed two 100 dollars notes in it.

"You don't really have to pay," said Bendy.

"I need to," said Draco. "Especially when we are in a war, people have to use money to buy things."

He turned to me. "Now I thought about it, perhaps...you two can...join the Black Skulls?"

It was silent for a while.

"What?" I said.

"Yeah," Draco said. "Maybe someday, you might join us and I can give you free black leather jackets. I'm always welcomed to welcome new members...that's a lot of 'welcomes'."

Bendy shrugged. "I don't know. I would be probably working at the studio, so I may not have that much time."

I nodded. "I'll think about it."

* * *

**Third Person's POV, San Francisco**

Barrett and Tuesday were sitting together in a toilet stall.

OK, maybe 'sitting' wasn't the right word.

More like 'hiding'.

Yeah, that's better.

You see, they thought that they would be able to go to a house in time, but there were more ink monsters appearing out of nowhere. They had to hide. so that they wouldn't be killed.

At one part, they were nearly spotted by an army of ink monsters and they had to find a place to hide. The best place was a nearby lone toilet stall. They quickly got in and closed the door. Luckily, this stall didn't have any windows or gaps for the monsters to come in.

However, the hiding spot wasn't great.

The toilet stall reeked of urine and poop. It was a combination of a smelly saltwater and rotten soy sauce eggs. Tuesday tried to use an air freshener, but the stinky smell of overwhelming. The lights were dull, giving low illumination for them to see. Since the stall was small and narrowed, Barrett and Tuesday found themselves squished together.

They were silent as they heard the groaning from outside.

It sounded as if someone was dying, letting out their final breaths.

It sounded as if someone ate too much Christmas dinner, their stomach aching.

It sounded as if someone was slowly transforming into an ink monsters, grunting at their cracking bones and swelling muscles.

Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"So…" said Tuesday. "This is…awkward."

"Yeah," said Barrett.

"So…any ideas of the source of this…problem?"

"First thing is this; you're next to me."

"I mean the ink invasion."

"Oops. Sorry. I don't. I think it is the Ink Machine."

"It can't be just that. Maybe it's not really the Ink Machine that caused all of this."

"Well it does. Remember? That story back in Brooklyn? In that old studio? The Ink Machine trapped all the employees there for 10 years!"

"Yeah, but the machine doesn't have a mind of its own. Joey used it for his own deeds and somehow, something controlled the machine."

"So you're saying that it was…black magic that did it?"

"Possibly."

Barrett shuddered. "I don't like the sound of this. And besides; it's unclear how black magic causes the Joey Drew Studios to go bizarre."

"We might not know, but my guess is; somebody must be using the Ink Machine with some kind of black magic."

Barrett stayed quiet. He wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I bet that there is a pentagram there," said Tuesday.

Barrett sighed. "You might be right."

"And I made my point."

"But…if there IS black magic, I'm not sure if we can do this."

"We might be able to. Spider would believe that he can do the impossible, right? You can try to be like him."

"I'm nothing like him," said Barrett sadly. "I…I appreciate your feedback, but…Spider is a far better person than I am. Despite his stupid side, he is so positive and brave. I'm not sure if I can be like him."

Tuesday sighed. "You know; we took down an army of ink monsters just now. Didn't that prove that you're a brave person?"

Barrett stayed silent for a while. "Yeah…you're right. I'm sorry. I'm just scared of all of this."

"Same here. But we have to be brave. so that we can keep our spirits high. We are close to whatever making all of this, so we have a chance of saving our home."

Barrett smiled a bit. "Thank you…it's nice having a friend like you."

Finally, the groaning outside faded away. Barrett opened the door slightly and looked outside. The coast was clear.

"It's gone," said Barrett. "Let's go."

The two blonde teens made their way out from the toilet stall. Since the area they were in was empty, they didn't have to worry about bumping into monsters. However, that changed when they overlooked the city from a high hill.

"Ugh!" groaned Barrett. "Are you kidding me?"

"I thought you said that there would be less ink monsters in the morning!" said Tuesday.

"Well, I THOUGHT so. Now we have to go down THERE?"

"Hey. My house is a bit close from here, so maybe we can sneak into there first."

Barrett nodded.

Since the two blonde teens were on a tall cliff, they used a rope to go down. Barrett tied one end of the rope to a nearby electric pole and the other around his waist. Using the rope as a rock-climbing wire, he jumped down and lowered himself on the ground below.

Once his feet touched the ground, he shook the rope, signalling Tuesday to come down.

"Lowering, lowering, lowering," said Tuesday as she made her way down.

Next, they arrived at the streets that had small stores. Many ink monsters crowded the place. Barrett and Tuesday had to hide behind the buildings before creeping to the next building.

"Creeping, creeping, creeping," said Tuesday.

They managed to get onto the rooftops. They had to stealthy jump from building to building without being seen.

"Sneaking, sneaking-"

"It's not sneaking if you say it!" hissed Barrett as they jumped onto one slightly high building.

"Sorry," said Tuesday sheepishly. "It's just that I'm enjoying this."

"Please don't act like my brother…"

They stopped at one roof of a house. They overlooked a large area. Barrett realized that they were looking at the outside a shopping center.

The normally shopping strip was filled with ink monsters. They were so many of them. There were big ones, small ones, tiny ones, weak ones, fat ones, buff ones and thin ones. Each one of them had a deformity on their face or body. It appeared that their ages ranged from 8 to above. The two teens cringe at the way the monsters walked, but noticed that some of them collapsed face-first. Others were leaning onto windows as if the plague had begun. And if there was any proof that they were acting like zombies, they were trying to find something to eat. One group were fighting over the contents of a rubbish bin. One ink monster ATE another ink monster. One ink monster was drinking a toilet. Others were licking the road.

"This is horrible," said Barrett, shaking his head. "I guess this is how a zombie apocalypse is like."

Tuesday whimpered. "C-can I hold your hand?"

Barrett sighed. "Sure."

Tuesday held Barrett's hand nervously…before giving him a peck on the cheek. Barrett blushed.

"OK…" said Barrett. "Still, we are not there yet."

Suddenly, all the ink monsters looked sideways in the same direction. Barrett's grip tightened on Tuesday's hand, getting ready to run.

But as they looked, the crowd began to part.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**" they chanted.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"M-Mykralais?" stammered Tuesday, trying to pronounce the name right. "Who is…'Mykralais'?"

"I think it's THAT guy," said Barrett, pointing to a figure going through the crowd.

Tuesday looked to her left. She caught a glimpse of somebody going through the crowd. There, she saw Mykrylais walking through the crowd.

The caped man made his way through the crowd. As he walked, many of the ink monsters would try and reach out to him…touch him…kiss him…as if he was like a celebrity.

…or a 'god' to be precise.

Naturally, Mykrylais would reach out to touch the hands extending to him. He would flirt at those who called his name, despite finding the monsters hideous. Despite being a powerful person, Mykrylais – regardless – was guarded by a pair of two buff ink monsters, wielding spears. Those guards would push aside any monster who would try to get close.

Behind Mykrylais was…Beast Bendy. It was stomping behind its master, its arms and legs hitting the ground, creating several but minor cracks. Its muscles could be seen jiggling up and down. Its horn were twitching like animal ears. Its large long tail was swaying from side to side, obediently not swatting any monsters aside.

Mykrylais smirked as he heard the cheers from the ink monsters. He really loved the attention, the praise, the spotlight…there were words that couldn't describe how pleased he was.

Meanwhile, Barrett and Tuesday were confused by what they saw.

"Is that some kind of human or something?" said Tuesday.

Barrett put a finger on his chin. "Well…his eyes are black and the ink monsters aren't attacking him…"

A dreadful feeling swirled around his stomach. "That's the guy who must be behind all of this!"

"Him?" said Tuesday in disbelief. "What's so special about him?"

As if to answer, Mykrylais stopped. He looked on at the crowd, before raising his hands up. All the ink monsters roared in joy.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"Do you want to see some magic?" called Mykrylais.

All the ink monsters cheered.

"I said 'do you want to see some magiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic'?!"

Mykrylais was singing a bit. The crowd cheered again.

But that cheer was nothing compared to the cheer when Mykrylais hit the end of his staff onto the ground. The caped man felt something pushing from the back of his chest. He grunted in pain as something finally pushed out from behind, revealing to be a set of wings. They were feathery, but they were black and dripping in ink.

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

"**All hail the Mighty Mykrylais!**"

Mykrylais smirked as he raised his hands up in the air in some kind of victory.

At that moment, Barrett felt worried.

"W…what?" said Tuesday shocked. "H-he can do…do…THIS?!"

"Seems to be…" said Barrett, his eyes peering at the glowing orb on Mykrylais' staff. "Must be that staff that controls his powers."

Barrett was silent for a while. "And…and…and why does his voice sounds…familiar?"

Tuesday nudged Barrett. "C'mon, Barrett. Let's go."

"Right."

The two blonde teens ran off. After hiding away from the ink monsters, they came to a more secluded residential area.

"Hey, look!" said Tuesday, pointing to a small indigo house. "That's my house!"

Barrett nodded and followed Tuesday. They quickly rushed towards the house and locked the door.

"They will never find us here," said Barrett grinning.

Tuesday nodded before turning away. "OK then. Hello? Anyone? Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me? Even if I'm whispering super loudly?"

The silence was thick.

"Anyone?" called Tuesday.

Silence.

"Huh. No one's here."

"Are there any ink monsters in this house?"

Tuesday looked around the small house. "Nah. There's no sign of ink…but that means…"

A distraught look appeared on Tuesday's face. Barrett placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," said Barrett sympathetically.

They heard a loud sound coming from a room. It sounded like crying.

"What?" said Barrett.

"No…" said Tuesday, her eyes widening up. "…no way!"

The two blonde teens ran to the room to find the source of crying. Lying in a cradle was a baby dressed in blue with a sprout of blonde hair.

Tuesday squealed in joy and hugged the baby. "My baby brother! Quill!"

Upon hearing his older sister's voice, Quill stopped crying and nuzzled into Tuesday's chest.

Barrett couldn't help, but watch in happiness as Tuesday hugged her baby brother. Tuesday might have lost her entire family, but at least she got her brother.

"I wonder if my family is safe," thought Barrett. "Mostly, I wonder if Spider didn't kill himself."

* * *

**?**

Henry struggled to open his eyes.

His head was spinning.

He felt as if his head cracked.

Even though he was 'invincible', the pain was still there.

He tried to focus on any consciousness he had at the moment, but he was close to blacking out again.

He tried to sit up, but his wrists and ankles were tied together and it was difficult to move.

"Uh…hey," said a familiar voice.

Henry whipped his head to the right. He saw Liam – with a deadpanned look – who had his wrists and ankles tied together with duct tape.

Henry looked at his hands. They were tied together by duct tape.

"C'mon," said Henry wearily. "Really? What the hell happened?"

"Well, you went out when you were LIGHTLY tapped on the head, the monsters outnumbered us and we are tied by duct tape in this huge wooden cage," said Liam sarcastically. "And oh. And my ass hurts like hell. Good job."

Henry gasped as he became fully awake. He looked around. He saw that he and Liam were in a small cage made from wooden planks. The cage was carried by a large group of ink monsters. They were walking through a long large hallway and chanting some…some…some…thing.

"Where is Harley?" said Henry worriedly.

"I don't know," said Liam shrugging.

Henry blanched. "S…she didn't make it."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Or maybe she ran off and betrayed us and abandoned us."

Henry was shocked at Liam's response. "I…I don't think she would do that."

"Oh really? Well, what do you expect? Girls are weak and they always run away at the first sight of danger. Typical Harley. She decided to sell us out ALL BY HERSELF. Maybe it's the fact that she is the only woman in our group. Maybe she just wants to save her own ass. Maybe she just wants to push EVERYTHING away."

Henry flinched.

And something snapped in his mind.

SLAP!

Liam slowly touched the part where he was slapped. It was bruised. He turned to Henry to see fire dancing in the adult's blue eyes.

Henry managed to break free from his restraints.

Liam gritted his teeth. "You son of a b**ch."

"No," growled Henry. "You are."

"What?"

Henry lost himself. He never met a kid who was THIS rude. Or cold to others. This was almost the first time he ever scolded a kid. He knew by heart that he wouldn't hurt a child and that he didn't punish his children because they were good. But not Liam. Henry had enough of the teen's attitude.

Henry stood up and spread out his arms. "**YOU!** You are the son of a b**ch. You are the brother of whoever made all of this bulls**t!"

Liam managed to get the duct tape off his ankles and stood up, his hands still tied. "Oh yeah? But who got us trapped in this stinking cage! You! You did! You had a chance to beat all of these monsters! Oh wait. You can't take a step because you're old!"

Henry snarled. "Again, I'm…not…THAT…old. How can you be this dense? Why I didn't take the chance to beat those monsters? Because there was another monster we didn't notice. Maybe there was another monster that has three heads and jump out of a f***ing invisible portal next to us!"

"**Hey!**" said a voice. "**Quiet!**"

Henry froze hearing that sound. He looked to the side to see…Sammy.

"S-Sammy?" said Henry nervously.

"**Sammy…**" said Sammy. "**…that name sounds familiar. We wouldn't want our sheep roaming away now, would we? No, we wouldn't.**"

Henry sighed. Sammy was saying those words again from the last time he kidnapped Henry.

"**I must admit that I am HONORED you came all the way down here to visit this place. It almost makes what I'm about to do seem cruel.**"

"Cruel?" said Liam.

"**But the believers must honor their savior. I must have him notice me…again…**"

Liam sighed. "Seriously? You really bump your head onto a wall. Like REALLY hard."

"What are you going to do?" said Henry.

"**SILENCE!**" exclaimed Sammy, punching Henry in the face. "**Not now. One of my messengers have some important message to tell me. Oh, I wonder what news the Mighty Mykrylais has…**"

Sammy walked away to the front. Henry and Liam watched in confusion.

"Well this is getting confusing," said Liam.

Henry shook his head. "I can't believe this. Like back at the haunted studio, Sammy was…acting hostile. I wished he was back to his good self. After all I'd done. Why do people have to act this way?"

"Yeah," said Liam sarcastically. "Yeah, pops. Maybe it's because you have such a blissful life. It's not like you ever had your dad becoming drunk, lost his frontal lobe and abused you for the rest of your life, your mother over-stressing, being bullied on the first day of school, finding out that your brother did some horrible things, meeting new friends only for them to dump you because you did something awful that you didn't agree to do and you better believe that no one had their parents abandon them."

Frustration appeared in Henry's eyes with a touch of hurt. "Really? And yet you decided to brood all day because of all of that."

"What's the point?" said Liam.

"There are better things in life! You can't just assume that things will go wrong."

"No, they will ALWAYS go wrong. And I can't wait to see the look on your face when you realize that the world is not about 'superheroes, rainbows and sunshine' BECAUSE IT AIN'T! Bad things have to happen and there's nothing you can do about it, but run away from them."

Henry was silent for a while.

"Wow," said Henry disgusted. "Run away from your problems and let them destroy the world. Surprised of how you roll."

Liam's expression softened. Just before the teen could say a word, Sammy came to the cage again.

"**Quiet down there, my sheep,**" said Sammy. "**We are close to completing this ritual.**"

"Ritual?" said Liam confused.

"Let me guess," said Henry flatly. "You're going to sacrifice us to Bendy, are you?"

"**No, no, no…**" said Sammy as if he was a kindergarten teacher. "**Bendy…he is the lord's son. We need to praise the real god; the Mighty Mykrylais.**"

"Who?"

"**Not now. We're here.**"

They entered a large room and in the middle was a large pool of ink. There were candles surrounding the pool.

"What…is…that?" said Henry.

"**I'm glad you ask, my sheep,**" said Sammy dreamy. "**This…this is one of our many Baptist pools. This is where you go into the darkness and use your life to honor the Mighty Mykrylais! When you enter this pool, he will hear you…he will set you free.**"

Liam shook his head. "This is ridiculous! How can dropping us in a pool make us 'follow' this stupid god of yours?"

Sammy stopped and said. "**Stupid?**"

Sammy stepped towards the cage and punched Liam in the face SO HARD.

"**DO YOU THINK MY LORD WOULD DO ANYTHING WRONG?!**" yelled Sammy. "**My lord will find you the most worthy sheep to be slaughtered…and used.**"

Liam was quiet. He wasn't sure how to respond back to this crazy corrupted man.

"So…what is this all about?" said Henry.

"**Allow me to demonstrate it to you,**" said Sammy.

He snapped his fingers.

At this, something dropped from the ceiling.

It was another cage hanging on the ceiling by chains. In that cage, there was a young girl who seemed to be around Liam's age. She was white as a ghost and her clothes were slightly disheveled.

"P…please help me…" whimpered the girl. "I-I…don't want to die…"

Henry was shocked seeing this.

"Let her go right now!" he barked.

"**Okey dokey!**" said Sammy.

That was when the cage dropped. Henry and Liam gasped in horror. The girl screamed as she was sent falling into the pool of ink below.

SPLASH!

There was no noise from the pool except for the movements of bubbles.

And then…

**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!**

Something jumped out from the pool. It was – oh, no longer the girl – but a hideous ink monster. It was as black as night and it had blood coming out from its sickly white eyes.

All the ink monsters in the room cheered.

Henry couldn't speak.

Liam was outraged.

"YOU MANIAC!" screamed Liam. "That was an innocent person! How dare you turned her into a monster like you!"

"**She isn't one,**" said Sammy. "**She becomes a beautiful prophet like me.**"

At this, the newborn ink monster coughed and spat out a pile of hair.

"Gross…" said Henry.

"**Once you go into this pool, the Mighty Mykrylais will give you eternal life and power to become one of the greatest prophets in the world. Those humans out there…they are the real monsters. We can't have that, can we?**"

Henry and Liam stared at each other, realizing what was going to happen to them.

"Please…" begged Henry. "…Sammy…this isn't you…don't do this…"

"**I'm sorry that you have to learn the hard way, my sheep," said Sammy coldly. "But the Mighty Mykrylais says that this is the right thing to do. He must claim his sheep.**"

As he spoke, the ink monsters lifted up the cage. Before Henry and Liam knew it, they were hanging from the ceiling, about to be dropped into the inky pool. There were no words to describe how foul the pool smelled from up there. Henry looked down from the cage to see the bubbling pool. He looked at the side to see Sammy. The corrupted ink man was grinning behind his mask.

Sammy put his hands up for silence.

"Do you believe that Mykrylais is the one true God on Earth?" said Sammy.

Henry made no reply. Liam just stared at the ink pool.

"**Do you accept him as your Lord and Saviour?**"

Henry couldn't speak.

"**Say 'I believe that Mykrylais is the living God and I accept him as my Lord and Saviour**'."

Liam looked at Henry. "Is there a way we can get out?"

"I'm not sure," said Henry. "Even if we manage to break the cage, the pool is too wide. We may fall into the pool if we try to jump to safety."

Sammy sighed. "**At least I tried. Now I baptize you in the name of the Mighty Mykrylais for the gift of god himself!**"

The cage rattled. The chains were about to break. Henry trembled. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get out of the cage alive. This was it. They were going to be transformed into monsters. Sweat dripped from his head as he looked around for a way out. But there wasn't.

"Henry…" said Liam, his voice wavering.

"What?" said Henry.

Liam looked down. If these were his final words, then he had to say them quickly.

"I'm…" said Liam.

Before he could say anything, everything went black.

"**What?**" said Sammy.

The cage stopped lowering.

A weird demon chime began to play.

Henry and Liam realized that…that…that…

From the corner, there was a face flashing at the corner of the room.

"Oh no…" said Henry.

THE INK DEMON WAS HERE.

The face disappeared. It was all silence. After waiting in the dark for a full minute, a loud screech could be heard.

Followed by a wet cutting sound.

A thump.

A second screech.

A second cut.

Another thump.

And a third.

And a fourth.

Fifth.

"**What?**" said Sammy again, even though he realized what was going on.

**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!**

Jumping out from the shadows was the Ink Demon. The lights were flashing. Ink was dripping from the ceiling and walls. Sammy screamed as the Ink Demon tried to attack him.

"**No!**" screamed Sammy, backing away. "**Stay back! I'm the prophet of the Mighty Mykrylais! I am-!**"

The Ink Demon let out a roar and chased after Sammy. The latter screamed at the top of his lungs and ran out of the room. The Ink Demon chased behind him.

That was when the door shut closed.

Henry gasped seeing who closed the door.

It was Harley.

She was a mess. Her clothes were stained with ink. Her eyes were red due to crying a lot. She turned around, breathing heavily. She was trembling.

She looked around to see the dead bodies of the ink monsters. Nobody knew if those monsters could revive, but it was clear that they all passed out.

Harley slowly made her way to a control panel, using it to move the cage away from the ink pool. Once Henry and Liam were away from the ink pool, Harley opened the cage door.

"H-Harley…" said Henry.

Harley broke into tears and wrapped her arms around Henry.

"I'm…so…tired…of…losing…my…friends…" she said, her voice cracking.

Henry couldn't speak.

"W-what did you do?" said Liam.

"I…I…" said Harley shaking. "I led the Ink Demon here. It was the perfect distraction to get you out."

Henry hugged Harley back. "Thank you."

Liam smiled faintly. "Let's get out of here."

"OK…"

Harley slowly let go. The three walked over and found another door at the other side of the room.

Henry opened it and let Harley and Liam go in. He looked back to see the large massacre, before closing the door.

* * *

**Elena's POV (at 8 pm)**

The glow of the fire was the only thing that lit up the whole place. I watched as specks of the fire flew from the flame and bounced around the bus. They slowly disappeared in the shadows, drowned out by the nearly hopeless scene outside the bus. The red-orange gradient flared up and down from the smoke, bordered by the black metal walls that stopped the fire from going out of control.

"I want to hate him," muttered Jace. "I really want to dislike Sven, but I got to respect his 'campfire on bus' idea."

"It's not really that bad," said Lucy as she snuggled into Jace's chest.

Jace took a spoonful of baked beans from his can and let the small beans fall into his mouth. He then took another spoonful and fed Lucy.

Laura nudged me and held out some kind of sandwich to me. It was a marshmallow with melted chocolate on top of it, sandwiched between two graham cookies.

"Here," she said. "Have one."

I took the smore from her and took a bite from it. The glace gooeyness of the marshmallow and chocolate dissolved in my mouth along with the crunchiness of the cookies.

Spider was staring at a can in his hands. It was a can of green peas. They were steaming due to being placed over the fire for a long time.

"Ergh…" said Spider, picking the green peas with his fork. "Do I have to?"

"It's good for you," said Clyde through a mouthful of instant noodles from his cup. "Plus, they taste sweet."

Spider pushed the can of peas away in disgust. "Ew...no thank you."

"C'mon!" said Sven. "Eating this will make you healthy, strong and handsome like me!"

"No way! Eating this would make me a pea brain like you!"

Alissa nearly spewed out her pumpkin soup upon hearing this.

"Shut up!" said Sven humiliated.

Bendy chewed on the remains of a chicken bone.

"Thank you Draco for getting these," said Bendy as he licked the bones. "It would last us for long."

"You're kidding me?" said Draco, taking a Wicked Wing from a nearby box. "I only had to get these from that damn KFC shop because Spider wants them."

Oh, right. I forgot to say that Draco had to stop the bus because most of the people wanted to have some KFC. Draco wasn't so hot on the idea because the nearest KFC was flooded with ink monsters. Somehow, he made it out with a box of chicken with no bite marks. **[2]**

I saw Alissa cooking a can of chicken soup over the fire. When the bottom of the can was black, she took the can and went to Damien who was on driving duty.

"Here," said Alissa, giving Damien the can.

Damien took it and slurped the soup. "Taste a bit burnt, but OK."

"Soup can't be burnt."

Damien and Alissa smiled at each other before looking away in shy liking. Alissa brushed the purple hair that was covering her eyes and went back to the fire.

I looked outside. Night had fallen so everything was nearly pitch black. The bus shone its lights on the road as it drove. Mating calls and screeches could be heard from the woods.

OK. Maybe I shouldn't use the words 'mating calls'. That sounded so wrong.

"Hey Pitbull!" called Bendy, standing up. "Hit me with some."

Pitbull shrugged and grabbed a can of spam ham. He crunched it and ham went flying out from the can. Bendy opened his mouth…only for the ham to splatter onto his eyes.

It was silent for a while.

Bendy screamed and started running around the fire, his eyes unable to fight against the raw juice of the ham.

Clyde face palmed before drinking up the remaining soup from his cup.

Spider turned to me. He smiled and slightly stroke my hair. I flinched and backed away.

"Please don't do that," I said.

"Sorry," said Spider blushing.

He smiled sheepishly as his cheeks turned red. Huh. Touchy. That was a cute smile.

Wait…what?

Laura chuckled seeing this. She placed a marshmallow on a stick and roasted it over the fire.

"What's so funny?" I whispered to Laura.

"It seems that someone likes you," whispered Laura.

There were ten seconds of radio silence before I let out this; "What?"

"Your face is slightly red."

"W…what? It's just from the fire. It's a bit hot when you're near it."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Not really. I see that you have eyes on someone."

I felt my heart beating out of my chest. "What?! I-it's not what you think. I mean…many boys flirt at girls and…the girls can get…feel…flatten…it's genetics for genders."

Laura laughed. "Oh really? Shame that I was starting to think that you and Spider will make a good couple."

I was taken aback. I was blushing furiously. At that moment, it was MY turn to feel sweaty. "What? Me?! A couple with Spider? Why should I fall in love with a boy? That is the grossest thing in the world!"

"Oh c'mon! Everyone must have a love interest. If you don't like boys, then what are you into? Girls?"

"OK. No, no, no. I'm not THAT. And besides, not everyone is looking out for love…like Clyde."

"But I'm sure that boys aren't that bad. Maybe you like some boys at school!"

"No way. Boys are weird! They are always trying to 'stay cool' and they are into money, sex and stealing girls' underwear. Hell, I don't want to be someone's girlfriend then that means that I will be someone's puppet!"

Laura sighed. "You are right, but the boys here aren't so bad. Sven can be a pain in the ass, but at least he is nice. Jace can be arrogant at times, but he is really protective of keeping others safe; mostly those he loved deeply. Damien can be aloof, but he is helpful and caring. Draco is loyal to anyone, he wouldn't let his friends down. Even Clyde is kind, even though he is pretty snarky. Spider is a good friend. He is nice, caring and kind of dorky."

Both of us looked at Spider who waved at us. I blushed.

"See?" whispered Laura. "The reason why Spider is one of the greatest people at school is because he never lets anyone down. He wants to do his best to help people. He cares about others. He is only interested in comic media, but he isn't interested in girls the whole time. He is a good person."

I sighed. "I know that you have been around Spider, but no offense. Being friends with him doesn't mean that he is good. You don't know what boys would do to trick you or…use you as a sex partner."

Laura winced. "Just why are you that cynical about boys?"

My eyes widened as I remembered why I started to become uncomfortable about boys. Those memories…no…no…no. My face turned pale. I quickly shook my head.

"I-it's personal," I choked out.

Laura looked concerned. She opened her mouth only to be interrupted by Draco.

"This is getting a bit too quiet," said Draco, standing up. "How about we play some tunes?"

He went up to a nearby radio and pressed a channel.

The radio started playing hip hop music.

Draco was enjoying it.

The song was…bland…slow…and…

"Bleh!" said Sven. "Boring!"

He pressed the radio and changed it to a more…eh…sexual one.

"Oh yeah!" said Sven. "This is my song."

I cringed as I heard those stupid lyrics about sex.

Jace agreed with me.

"Stupid…" said Jace.

He went up to the radio and pressed another channel.

This time, the speakers were letting out loud bass noises.

Almost everyone covered their ears. Even Damien was irritated by the song that he nearly crashed the bus into a tree.

"What is that?!" I said.

"It's an EDM song," said Jace, nonchalantly enjoying the loudness of the song. "This one is a very huge hit."

"Nuh-uh!" said Lucy, changing the radio. "How about we listen to something more lighter."

She changed the music to a piano ballad. She sighed in pleasure.

"Perfect," she said.

I sighed in relief.

Laura was exasperated by this.

"Not lively enough," she said.

She went up to the radio and changed it.

This time, I was some kind of hip 1980s song. Laura was jamming to it.

"Boo!" said Bendy. "Old!"

He went up the radio and changed it.

It started to play a song.

Well…I wouldn't call it a song.

The vocals were…so high-pitched…enough to break a window.

The background music was discordant.

To put it simple, it was a jumble of static noises.

Bendy was enjoying it, sitting in a pile of bean bags with glasses on, swaying to the 'rhythm' of the song.

Apparently, no human like that song.

Everyone was on fire, going berserk from hearing the song.

Again, Damien flinched and nearly hit ANOTHER tree and quickly got back onto the right side of the road…but NOT before nearly getting the bus hit by a speeding car.

Angered, Sven played the sexy song.

Annoyed, Jace played the loud song.

Agitated, Laura played the hip song.

There was a silence as those three glared at each other.

Within moments, they started to fight over who gets to choose the music by pushing each other and attempting to play the radio. There were no other sounds from the radio except the sounds of buzzing and static.

At this, Alissa lost it.

"SERIOUSLY!" she yelled, snatching the radio and placed it on top of her head, so that nobody could touch it. "If you can't decide what music we can play, then I'll toss it out of the window!"

"Sorry," said Laura.

"Yeah, careful," said Bendy snarky.

"Hey," said Spider, taking the radio. "Let me play a song that we might all like."

"What is it?" said Jace.

"Let me start off the intro."

At this, he THREW THE RADIO ONTO THE FLOOR. The radio smashed into a million pieces as soon as it hit the floor. Spider then got all the pieces into one pile before jumping on them.

And jumped again.

And stomped.

And started tap-dancing on them.

And stomped again.

And doing the 'shoot' dance.

And stomped again.

After exactly 2 minutes of Spider stomping the radio, he hopped off and looked at the remains. It was just a pile of small particles.

Everyone was silent.

Draco's jaw was wide opened.

Spider had a concerned look. "I think it didn't sound good."

Draco's face turned red as a beetroot. "OH MY GOSH! Spider! That radio cost me freaking 500 dollars! Do you know how much it cost to repair THAT thing?!"

"Nope," said Spider innocently insensitively. "But you don't need money to pay off a good show."

Draco pouted, crossing his arms.

Calmly, Spider took out his phone and connected it to a Bluetooth speaker. He pressed it and an electro background music played.

"Take your seats everyone," he said, clapping his hands.

All of a sudden, the fire went off…and the campfire disappeared. In an instant, the whole bus was filled with colorful spotlights.

"Let me play with you something…fun," said Spider before breaking into song.

The song he chose was 'Applause'. He must be a fan of Eurodance. He started singing the first verse of the song. I was pretty surprised of his voice. It was young and raspy, but he sang well, hitting the low AND high vocals. He was using dancing moves to emphasis the lyrics of the song. He walked through the bus, passing everyone. Even at one point, he went near to Lucy and slowly raised a finger at her, flirting. Lucy blushed as he did that. Jace playfully rolled his eyes.

Spider was so good.

No wonder why Ariel said he was a good performer in 'any 1900 jazz'…

When the chorus hits, Spider spun around as all the spotlights turned to him, flashing colors to the beat of the song. Spider was singing at the top of his lungs and moving around. I was surprised of how he acted. He didn't stop to catch a breath! How could anyone do that?! Even on a moving bus?!

He was actually killing the song. I couldn't believe it. He was doing impressive tricks and using both his hands. Almost everyone was enjoying his performance. Laura and Lucy were dancing along to the song. Sven watched in envy. Damien was tapping his hands on the wheel despite not seeing the performance. The rest of us were clapping their hands with smirks on their faces. I just stood there, shocked.

Just when the bridge began, Spider came up to me. As he started vocalizing, I was getting uncomfortable. He was looking at me with that smirk. That stupid smirk. That smirk boys would make when flirting at me. I was thinking of slapping him on the face, but Spider grabbed my hand and pulled me to the middle.

"What are you doing?" I said.

Spider said nothing, but continued to sing the song. He started to swing me around like a ballet dancer. I came to the realization that…

…he was dancing with me…

…as his partner.

HIS partner!

I tried to tell him to stop, but he cut me off by moving me around and gesturing me to join in. I couldn't do anything, but let him swing me around. Everything was spinning as if I was on the craziest merry-go-round ride. I was begging for Spider to stop, but he didn't take hint that he wouldn't.

Eventually, he finished dancing and did an incredibly long note. As the song came to a stop, Damien screamed.

SPLAT!

Something banged against the window.

We all looked at the front.

From there, we saw a Charley-like monster, having its face smacked against the window. Everyone was silent.

Flatly, Damien pressed a button and the wind shield brushed the critter off the bus. We all watched as that monster slowly slumped onto the road as the bus drove away.

"OK," said Laura. "That was unexpected."

Spider looked at all of us.

"Eh?" he said. "Is this the perfect song you all want?"

There was a long pause of silence before…

"That…was…amazing!" said Lucy, jumping up and down in joy.

"Yeah," said Jace, punching his fist in the air. "You do really rock that song!"

"I knew you can perform this well!" said Laura.

"Huh, you are a great dancer like me," said Clyde.

"You deserve a Grammy award for this!" said Bendy.

"Hey," said Sven jealousy. "I can sing better than him."

"Well, your voice sounds a bit like a girl," said Alissa.

"HEY!" snarled Sven.

Draco stepped towards Spider. "I'll admit that you are one damn of a singer, but please pay that radio."

"OK then," said Spider, pulling out a coin out. "Here!"

Draco took it and looked at it. "Uh…a cent won't be enough to buy a new radio."

Spider looked at me. "Well, was the night fun?"

He kissed me on the cheek.

…oh…

…oh…

…oh…my…lord…

He KISSED me on the cheek.

I slowly touched where I was kissed on.

Then I gasped.

My eyes widened.

I had an image of a blonde boy kissing me on the lips. I tried to pull him off, but he wouldn't let go. He had me pushed into a wall, so there was no way I could escape.

Then, he…

…he…

…

That…was…SICKENING.

Spider looked concerned. "Elena? Are you alright?"

I snapped out from memory and stared at him. I felt all the eyes staring at me. I never felt this humiliated before.

My eye twitched.

"**JUST WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!**" I yelled.

Spider flinched. Everyone was shocked.

"W-what do you mean?" said Spider.

I clenched my hands into fists. "Just what do you think you're doing? Pulling me into some kind of crazy dance?! What kind of sick man are you?!"

Spider gasped. There was a distraught look in his dark grey eyes. He tried to say something, but closed his mouth. He was becoming pretty nervous. And then, I saw that he was…tearing up.

My anger slowly disappeared at the sight of tears. He had tears forming at the corner of his eyes. His mouth was trembling.

"I-I-I…I am sorry," he said. "I…I thought it would be fun if I dance with you, but I didn't know it would bother you this much. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm s-s-sorry…"

He trailed off. I suddenly realized that he didn't mean any ill intentions. He didn't mean to pull me up. He didn't mean to dance with me for pleasure. He didn't mean to kiss me on the cheek.

I felt like a jerk.

My mouth started to tremble.

Despite having my sunglasses over my eyes, everyone noticed the fear on my face. Laura, Lucy, Clyde and Sven had shocked looks while Draco, Jace and Alissa glared at me. Damien just remained in his seat, shocked.

"Elena?" said Laura.

I shook my head and ran to the end of the bus. I opened one of the bathrooms and slammed the door. As so, I slumped to the ground. I was upset with myself and I knew that I overreacted when all Spider wanted to do was play with me. Not out of satisfaction, but as if…he was using a way to…be a good friend.

I felt terrible. Terrible for yelling at an innocent person. I thought that he was just making fun of me.

I never meant to yell. I was too angry. Having someone kissed me brought me back to…

I hugged myself and tried not to cry.

A knock could be heard. Twice.

"Hey Elena!" called Bendy from the other side.

I made no response.

"Please…Elena. Open…are you OK to talk?"

I was silent for a while. "Just please go away…"

Bendy was silent for a while. "OK then. Just come out before midnight."

I heard him walk away. I placed my head into my hands.

So much for a good night.

* * *

**AN: Oh dear. It doesn't seem to be a good night. **

**Anyway, the song Spider sang is 'Applause' by Lady Gaga. I thought that this would fit the mood and highlight his character a bit. If anyone has a problem with this, let me know and I will immediately get rid of the song.**

**Draco's flashback of how he formed the Black Skulls has a few aspects from SuperKirbyLand234's '_Light of Hope_' story and SecretStarr101's '_Welcome To Mobius_'. If anyone have concerns about using parts of those stories, please let me know and we discuss about this. **

**Also, the ritual that nearly got Henry and Mitchell killed was based on a certain scene in _The Lego Ninjago Movie_. If you want to know, go watch it!**

**And oh, Bendy's appearance is a bit similar to Freddy's appearance in Five Nights at Freddy's. :3**

**[1] That's the mascot of theMeatly games! I hope you all recognize that!**

**[2] Ha, ha, ha. That is a side story I didn't write because it would take a bit too long (and yet all the main chapters are at least 14,000 words long). I threw that in because everyone likes KFC. **

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you enjoy this story, follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of the chapter: What do you think of Sammy's f***ing (*laughs* I shouldn't swear because there are kids reading this!) ritual? And what do you think when Ink Bendy attacked Sammy and his goons?**

**Again, updates will be slow, so unfortunately, the next chapter will come in the next month/next year (January 2020). Merry Late Christmas and have a happy new year! Let's make 2020 a better year.**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	7. 6 - Highs and Lows

**AN: Hey there! I'm back with another chapter! For this chapter, I warn you all that there is one disturbing scene that is...inappropriate. Especially to those who were harassed before.**

**Thanks to FiveNightsAtFreddy's123Fan for favouriting this story.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Highs and Lows**

**Third Person's POV, ?**

Who knew that they would end up in a maze.

It was a few minutes after they escaped Sammy's clutches, but the problem was, they were walking through long hallways connected to each other. None of them could see where they were going. They heard bumps on the ceiling and mysterious voices calling to them, but shrugged them off. However, this didn't change the fact that it was scary.

"Wow," said Henry worriedly. "There are so many hallways here."

"I wonder which one is the right one," said Harley, looking around.

"OK. This is a bit pointless. We are going through a maze. We don't know if we are getting closer to the Ink Machine."

"Well there has to be a quicker way to get there," said Liam.

"It's too dark to see anything," said Harley. "We need some light."

"I have my phone here," said Henry.

"Oh good," said Liam sarcastically. "Then why are we walking around in circles for the last hour and a half?"

"I thought that you two have phones."

"I lost mine a long time ago."

"And I don't use these 8th generation phones," said Harley.

"And besides," said Henry. "I'm conserving the batteries because my phone is low."

"Wow," said Liam. "Wonderful. Tell me when it is a GOOD TIME to use your phone."

"Can we use the phone now?" asked Harley.

Henry sighed. "Fine."

He switched on his phone. "Huh? 56%? I swore that it was 4% when we were in that Little Miracle Station."

Liam shrugged. "Must be some glitch. Happens to MY phone all the time."

"OK…" said Henry, turning on the flashlight.

He shone the light in front of them. With light illuminating the floor, they saw the yellow wooden boarded floor. It was slightly stained in ink.

Henry moved the light upwards, shining the entire hallway. The walls were dripping in ink. To make it unsettling, there were many written ink writings on the walls including 'HE WILL SET US FREE', 'ACCEPT OUR OFFERINGS', 'END OUR LIVES!' and 'HEAR OUR CRIES!'.

"Oh…my…goodness," said Harley.

"This is getting way out of hand," said Henry.

"W…what do they mean?"

Liam went near to one of the writings and touched it. He slowly stepped away, looking at the ink drop on his finger.

"Hmm," said Liam. "It seems that…we are not the only ones down here."

Henry looked worried. "You mean…there are…other survivors?"

"Well, it is a possibility. We know that Hawk once was stuck here. Then, we saw that little girl there who was trapped in another cage.."

He thought for a while before coming up with the ugly truth. "Humans like us are making these writings."

"W-what?" said Henry.

"Yeah…some of them…must be believers. Yes. They must be Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sabians, Arabians…any culture you can think off. I guess those people are desperate to escape, so they write off messages for their gods to save them."

Henry rubbed his face. Jews? Christians? Trying to get noticed by other gods?

"This is CRAZY!" said Henry. "Firstly, people are worshiping Bendy and now they are depending on gods to save them?! This is so OFF. Why do they begin to pray to some god to be free when they know that they won't? It would be a matter of time before we all go mad!"

Liam glared at Henry. "AHEM! I'm a Christian!"

Henry froze. "What?"

"Yeah. I'm a Christian. That's my belief."

Henry was silent for a while. "Liam. Why do you think that some god that might 'save' us?"

Harley shushed him to be quiet, but there was nothing she could do.

Liam had a meaningful expression. "I DON'T think God will save us. I HOPE that God will save us and that's enough."

Henry shook his head. "But you said there is nothing to do to prevent bad things. You were pretty much a hypocrite."

Liam nodded shamefully. "I know…it's just that…I thought God would at least give me a chance to live…help us from pain…and it kind of works."

Henry was dumbfounded. "…so you're saying…this 'God' sent Harley to save us…to give me these invincibility powers…to shelter us in a small room?"

"Not really," said Liam. "But he watches out for us."

Henry didn't know how to respond to this. He wasn't a believer in any god and ever since the haunted studio, he started to ridicule any belief, thinking that those traditions would only cause pain and misery to people.

Harley sighed. "Henry…I know that you are not so eager to listen about these things…trust me, I don't believe in any god, even though I tried reading the bible once…but it's worth a shot to put your hope into one god."

Henry was having a different view. "So you're saying that we should cut our hands with knives and use our blood as sacrifices to this 'God'?!"

Liam flinched. "No…you are wrong. I will admit; in some verses I know, God wants us to offer our bodies as 'living sacrifices'…but that doesn't mean making a REAL sacrifice or doing a freaking ritual. This God is…different. He just wants us to get rid of all the bad things we did and…and have a good moral and a good will and stuff…"

Liam looked down. "I…I started to believe in God because I thought all my problems would be solved…it's working a bit."

Henry tilted his head. "When did that happened?"

Liam waved his hand. "I'll tell you about later. Right now, I should continue on from where I left off."

* * *

**Liam's POV**

_As I was saying, I became friends with Ruby. I didn't get to know what she did at her home, but we didn't bother to ask each other these questions. I did tell her about my problems, making her promise to keep them secret._

_Mitchell took an interest in Ruby. Soon, those two started to go out for dates, despite being young. Mitchell would try to kiss Ruby, but when he caught a glance on my face, he quickly stopped, knowing that I wouldn't be happy if I saw what he was doing._

_Many times, Mitchell asked me if I even had a crush on Ruby. I simply said 'no'. As said before, I was never interested in love and I only saw Ruby as a friend, not some kind of attractive lady. Mitchell was fine by that, but keep pestering me by joking that I wanted Ruby._

_One day on the weekends, Mitchell and I were at home. Mum was out for her work shift while Dad stayed at home._

_As usual, I spotted my drunk Dad lying on the couch. I noticed how…thick he was. He was becoming fat due to drinking a lot and eating too much junk food without proper nutrition. His eyes were bloodshot due to staring at the screen for a LONG TIME. I was worried that he would die due to his condition, but he looked…eh…healthy._

_OK. Maybe 'healthy' was the wrong word._

_I saw what he was watching. It was some…questionable content._

_I got suspicious of what Dad was watching. I never seen that type of show before. I was thinking of asking, but I was worried that Dad might snap. Despite my cowardice, my mouth had a mind of its own._

_"Dad?" I said nervously. "What are you watching?"_

_That old bastard lifted up its head and looked at me. I never know how ugly he looked until that moment. Dad looked back at the TV and shrugged._

_"Nah, probably nothing," he said. "It's just a normal TV show."_

_And that was when he fell asleep._

_When I woke him up and asked him again, his only reply was this;_

_"It's just a show. You can watch it."_

_But from my view, that show was something I wished I had never seen._

_As if on cue, Mitchell came in to see what was going on._

_"Hey there," said Mitchell. "Have any of you seen my…?"_

_He trailed off when he saw THESE shows Dad was watching; Black Comedy, Strong Violence, Horror, Heavy Metal, Supernatural Thrillers, Adult Pornography, Medical Dramas, Religious Shows and all these gruesome gory shots. _**[1]**

_There was amazement twinkling in Liam's eye. The bright blue eyes suddenly glowed in awe and interest._

_"Uh…Mitchell?" I said worriedly._

_Mitchell's eyes were peered on the TV._

_"Yo…" I said, waving my hand in front of him. "Are you…alright?"_

_Mitchell didn't respond._

_I looked back at the TV._

_To see something horrible._

_At the sight of an 'open-body surgery', I felt something creeping up my throat._

_Immediately, I ran to the bathroom and vomit violently in the toilet. I never seen something THAT horrible before. I wondered why Dad AND Mitchell would want to watch this kind of s**t. Didn't Mitchell know that it was wrong to watch these kinds of shows? AT THE AGE OF 11?!_

_More of those stupid bloody and sexual images popped into my mind. I continued to vomit until there was nothing in my stomach. My throat started to burn, so I finally stopped. I wiped my mouth and flushed the toilet._

_I washed my face – especially my eyes – to try to get rid of those images. But they wouldn't go away._

_After 3 hours of staying in my room – doing homework – I came out, about to buy some lunch. I went up to Mitchell. He was still watching the freaking TV about those stupid porn shows._

_"Hey Mitchell," I said, trying my best to look away from the TV. "I'm about to go out and buy some lunch. What do you want to have?"_

_Mitchell didn't reply._

_"Uh…hello?"_

_Still no reply._

_"Mitchell. I'm talking to you."_

_But no sound came out from Mitchell._

_I gave up. "Look. I might as well buy some pizza, but please turn off that TV. Mum won't be happy to see what you are watching. Go and take some fresh air, brother."_

_I turned around and put on my shoes. I was about to open the door when I heard THIS from the TV._

_"Who cares? You can do whatever you want!"_

_I sighed. "You know those shows are going to give you brain damage-"_

_I was cut off when I heard Mitchell started to…cheer in delight. He was laughing…cheering…like a maniac._

_I turned around to see Mitchell bouncing off the walls. He was saying too many things that he started to sway his arms around._

_"Mitchell…" I growled._

_Mitchell noticed my irritation, but was too happy to let it worry him. I walked up to him and saw what he was watching._

_"Please Mitchell," I said annoyed, pulling him towards my face. "Do you know what you're watching?"_

_But Mitchell was shouting against me._

_"Oh c'mon!" he said excitedly. "That was the best thing I've ever seen! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE BLOOD!"_

_I stared at him with a confused look before backing away. I was starting to become scared of him. I immediately broke free from his embrace, ran out and slammed the door._

_I didn't buy lunch because I was disturbed AND petrified by what happened. I decided to spend the rest of the day outside, trying to clear my mind. I tried to smile at the sun, the fresh air, the gardens and the people talking, but all of this were blocked out by those disturbing shows I saw._

_I took something to eat, but I ended up vomiting in the bin at least 3 times in the afternoon. Many people had asked me if I was OK, but I refused to talk._

_I didn't know how long I was out for until Mum called me. She told me that she couldn't find me and wondered where I was. I felt ashamed of leaving the house and my brother behind without leaving a note. I told Mum that I would be back home before dinner._

_Eventually, I was able to get back home, 3 minutes after the call. When I arrived, I saw Mitchell and Dad; both of them were asleep, flat out tired. They were both covered in sweat and junk food; smelled like they didn't have a bath for 30 years._

_I looked to the left to see Mum unplugging the TV. She saw my look. We both understood what Mum was going to do with the TV._

_I did the honors and threw the TV onto the road._

_SMASH!_

_It hit the ground, screen-first. The screen broke into many pieces, but Mum and I didn't care._

_At least Dad or Mitchell wouldn't be watching these kind of shows anymore._

_Unfortunately, I realized that those extreme shows would always be stuck in my head._

_When I went to sleep, I heard Mitchell moving around. He was whispering strange things as if he was under a spell. He was moving around a lot in bed, as if he was fighting in a battle._

_But Mitchell was the least of my problems on that night._

_I tried to fall asleep, but the images of porn, sex and gore filled my mind. I banged my head on the wall…once. I didn't want to have a concussion. I tried to relax, but I felt something poking. It turned out I had a boner._

_That night, I hated Mitchell and Dad._

_The next day, I woke up, feeling groggy. I didn't have that much sleep, so I nearly bumped into the walls. Eventually, I tripped and fell down the stairs. When I hit the bottom, Mum immediately rushed over to see if I was OK._

_I said that I was fine, but I asked the same question when I saw…tears in her eyes._

_She told me that she was struggling with work. Apparently, she wasn't going well and on the risk of being fired. She said she wasn't sure what was going on and why she wasn't doing well._

_I wanted to make her feel happy, so I told her that no matter what, I would always love her. I hugged her and she hugged me back._

_When I ate breakfast, I realized that Mitchell wasn't with me. I checked the bedroom, but he…wasn't there. I went to the living room to see if he was there, but I only saw my lazy ass Dad lying on the couch._

_I asked Mum where Mitchell go and she didn't know either. She said that she saw a note from Mitchell on the table. It said that Mitchell went out to buy something for Mum's birthday._

_That was kind of weird. Mum's birthday would be in a month time and Mitchell couldn't casually leave a note saying that he was getting Mum a present. I shrugged it off and went to school._

_Everyone noticed that I looked…different. My hair was slightly messy and my eyes had dark bags under them. Many students asked me if I was alright. I would have told them about the awful things I saw, but I told them it was just stress. I made a lie that I was concentrating on my homework that I didn't sleep that much. Thankfully, they believed me._

_The day didn't get better. I nearly fell asleep in class multiple times. My teachers asked me if I need to go see a doctor or take a rest, but I refused to. Eventually, I became more aroused when I thought about Mitchell. I…I didn't see him at school and nobody else have seen him._

_Eventually, at lunch time, I realized what he was doing._

_I was sitting at the usual table I always sit at. I was waiting for Mitchell and Ruby to come over, but they weren't at the cafeteria. I was…getting concerned. I knew that nobody had seen Mitchell yet, so I asked many people if they saw Ruby. None of them cared to answer. I was furious that they saw her as a waste of space._

_I started to send texts and calls to Mitchell and Ruby, but neither of them picked up my calls. I was getting worried._

_5 minutes before lunch ended, I finally lost my patience and decided to search through the school myself. I walked through the hallways and then, I heard something…weird from the toilet._

_"Give me that…"_

_Then a girl's scream could be heard._

_It was coming from the boys' bathroom._

_Yes. I mean it._

_The BOYS' bathroom._

_That scream sounded like Ruby. I wondered what was going on. I opened the bathroom door and saw two pairs of feet from the bottom of one of the toilet stalls. I decided to look inside the stall to see what was going on._

_Biggest mistake of my life._

_I saw Mitchell pushing Ruby against the wall. The latter's nose was bleeding. Worse, Mitchell had HIS lips on RUBY'S lips._

_And he wouldn't let go._

_He only stopped when he saw me._

_"Oh…" said Mitchell sheepishly. "Hi…"_

_"HELP!" screamed Ruby._

_My face turned pale. My blood ran cold. My eyes widened. This was like one of those stupid shows Mitchell watched._

_Before I knew it, I slumped onto the floor._

_The next thing I knew was being in the sick bay. One of the doctors came up to me and I asked what happened to Mitchell and Ruby._

_The doctor told me that Mitchell mysteriously disappeared and Ruby was seen crying on the floor. He even told me that it was 5 pm; after school._

_I saw Ruby crying on another bed. I went up to her to see if she was OK, but when I touched her, she yelled;_

_"DON'T TOUCH ME!"_

_"I'm just-!"_

_"**GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU SICK BASTARD!**"_

_I was taken aback. Before I could talk, I was sent to the principal's office. I decided to leave Ruby alone._

_When I arrived at, the principal told me that I was seen passed out on the floor. She even described that I looked pale and asked me what was wrong. I was thinking of lying, but the principal told that something wasn't right with me. She explained how weary and pale I was ever since the start of the day._

_I begrudgingly told her about Mitchell's abuse. His sick abuse. His horrible actions. I explained to her that he saw those weird shows on TV and instantly got those images in his head. I even told her that he was molesting Ruby – I had to stop about 8 times, so that I wouldn't pass out._

_The principal understood and let me go. I arrived home to see Mitchell asleep on his bed. Then, I heard…yelling._

_It was coming from my parents' room. I slowly crept towards the door and placed my ear on it. I heard a loud 'thud' and Dad screaming. It turned out, Mum LOST her job. _

_She was fired. _

_Discharged._

_At that moment, we were on the risk of being evicted._

_Dad was screaming at Mum of how pointless she was as a woman. How she should had acted like how the men did the job. How weak she was._

_I knew that wasn't true. Mum was trying her best and even though I didn't know how she was fired, I knew that she did the least she could do. But she was one of Dad's targets…and Dad had an excuse to hurt his own wife._

_The door suddenly opened and Mum came out crying. Dad saw me and slammed the door in front of my face. I couldn't expect more._

_I ran to Mum, who was crying on the dining table. She was complaining about how pathetic and weak she was. She was making these suicidal comments. I knew that was wrong, so I comforted her and told her this;_

_"At least you have me," I said. "The only thing I'm grateful for is having a good mother like you."_

_Despite being in a state of distraught, she smiled vaguely._

_The next day, Mitchell was sent to the office. To my surprise, he said the whole truth about what he did yesterday as if it was a casual topic. He said that it was RIGHT to do it._

_That didn't turn out well._

_Upset by his behavior, the principal called our parents to come over. They had a chat and since Mitchell broke several guidelines of the school, the principal had no choice, but to EXPEL Mitchell._

_FOREVER._

_And as if that wasn't bad enough, I tried to find Ruby. I found her by her locker at lunch time. I tried to ask her if she wanted to sit together, but…the look in her eyes…meant that she was done with me._

_I tried to tell her to stop, but she ran off._

_That was the last time I ever talked to her._

_I was heartbroken to see that a good friend of mine ran away from me. Because of what Mitchell did, Ruby no longer trusted Mitchell or me. To her, I was a pervert._

_The day turned out worse when I arrived back home. Dad was yelling at Mitchell for sexually abusing a girl. Mitchell just shrugged and said that Dad would do the same. Before Dad could even say another word, I blocked him from hurting Mitchell._

_That was a big mistake._

_Dad then punched me to the ground yelling that it was my fault for getting Mitchell expelled AND how I should had saved Ruby when I had the chance to._

_I felt like an idiot that day._

_The next day, I woke up to find that…Mum…was gone._

_I searched the house to find her, but it appeared that…she left. Almost all her belongings were gone._

_The only thing that remained was her necklace. I found it on the dining room._

_I was shattered._

_But neither Dad nor Mitchell cared._

_And a week later, Dad disappeared._

_And Mitchell wasn't bothered._

* * *

**Third Person's POV, ?**

Henry, Harley and Liam stopped by a door once Liam finished telling the next part of his story. Liam's voice trailed off, his voice wavering.

Henry was speechless. Hearing how a father abused his own children was one thing. But disappearing parents?

That was a HUGE thing.

"W-what happened to your mother?" said Henry in a hushed voice.

A glimmer could be seen in Liam's eyes, as deep as the waving ocean. "I…I don't know. She just disappeared…her car was even gone…the police couldn't find her…I think that she just…she ran away…"

A lump formed in Henry's throat. "What about your father?"

Liam shook his head softly, as if his body paralyzed. "I don't know as well…I…I don't know…"

Liam looked down and a dark shadow fell on his face. He looked hopeless. His expression was darker than the dark shadows that filled the entire place. There were no other words to describe the pain on his face.

Henry bent down towards Liam and wrapped his arms around him. The adult knew that he wasn't a big fan of Liam, but he needed to show a bit of care towards the blonde teen.

After all, Liam pleaded Henry not to judge about his past.

"I'm…I'm so sorry," said Henry.

Liam remained unreadable. "It's fine. I'm used to this."

"U-used to this?!" said Henry, letting go. All of a sudden, his voice was raising. "How can you say that?!"

"Geez, old man. You adults these days overreact with everything. My past isn't such a HUGE ISSUE to you lot."

"Don't call me old. You should have known better. You should have known how much this impacts you. You should have known how much this impacts not only your family, but the ENTIRE COMMUNITY. Do you know how people would feel about you?"

Liam turned away. "Pfft. Of course, they were upset, but as if I care about their pity."

"You know what you should care about? You can just shut your mouth and throw away that crap you are giving. You can quit being a mundane potty-mouth larrikin and just acting as a stoic man!"

Liam whipped his head around. "Oh, me? So you're saying you want ME to break down from all that abuse I got during the last few years? You're saying that I should cry until I can't breathe? NO WAY. There is no way I will let all this pain get to me and destroy my good will. Mitchell let it happened and look at what he did! All I have to do is to not hurt anyone and no one can hurt me."

Henry's voice nearly cracked. "S-so…this means…you don't care about…others?"

Liam looked down again. "I hope so…but things don't always work out well."

He then took something that was hiding under his singlet. Henry and Harley gasped upon seeing it.

It was a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pink jewel hanging at the end.

"This…" said Liam as he stared at it. "At least I have this here…this is the only heart I care about. The only thing I care about in the world. My mum used to have this necklace and as long as she still loves me, I don't need to love anybody else. I don't need anyone or the world. As long I have the necklace in my hands."

"Wait," said Harley confused. "I thought you threw that necklace away after we left Brooklyn. How come you still hang onto it?"

"Correction," said Liam, putting the necklace back under his singlet. "Mitchell TRIED to throw that necklace on the day we left, but I managed to pull this out from the bin. Because of this, I knew that Mitchell no longer cared about anyone."

When Henry heard the word 'Brooklyn', he paused. "Brooklyn? Did you say…Brooklyn?"

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Henry thought about it. Liam used to be a classmate of Laura and he said that he left Brooklyn…that meant…

"So…" said Henry. "The next thing you did after your parents disappeared was to…move to Brooklyn?"

"Well, yes," said Liam nodding.

"Care to tell?"

"OK. But FIRST, I want to see what is on the other side of this room."

Liam made his way to the door and opened the door. It led to another hallway with MORE DOORS on the walls.

"Great," said Liam. "A hallways filled with doors."

"Maybe one of those doors would lead to the surface," said Henry.

"Let's try one," said Harley.

Liam opened one door to reveal a torture room.

"**GiMmE dAt BuTt!**" screeched an ink monster.

"**NOOOOOOOOOOO!**"

There was one ink monster wearing a mask and wielding a dagger stabbing another ink monster that was tied to a bed. Ink was squirting out from the tied monster's chest as it was stabbed multiple times.

The screeches were unbearable. They bared a similarity of savages crying in a forest.

"Nope," said Liam, closing the door.

Liam quickly turned away. He went to another door.

This one, it was a dark and quiet room. There were candles laying on the floor. There were many ink monsters lying around like homeless people. One of them let out a choking sound as it reached its hand towards Liam, as if begging for money.

"Nah," said Liam, closing the door.

Liam went to another door.

This one, it was…rather backasswards.

It was a large room with yellow and light spotlights flashing all over. You could see many ink monsters taking LOTS and LOTS of drinks. And when I say DRINKS, I mean INK. There was also one ink monster dancing on a pole.

Liam's nose started to bleed.

"No," said Liam.

He quickly turned away.

"Liam?" said Henry. "Are you OK? You look pale."

Harley's face was nearly white as a paper. "Was that a naked strip party in that room?"

Liam shook his face and rubbed his eyes. "I'll pretend I didn't see that."

"Was it that bad?" asked Henry.

Liam shuddered. "Just like what I saw on that damn TV."

"What about this door?" said Harley, pointing to one with a gold knob.

The three headed towards that special door and Henry opened it. It was…a pretty small door. There were two ink monsters staring at each other with shy liking. Romantic music could be heard playing.

"Uh…" said Henry, getting uncomfortable by this. "Not this one."

He slowly closed the door…and Liam tried to see through the gaps to look at the uh…'lovely' scene.

"This is rubbish," said Harley. "Maybe we should just go back into that maze again?"

"Wait a minute," said Henry, pointing to something. "Look."

They all looked at the end of the hallway. At the dead end, there was a door with a silver knob. Unlike the rest of the doors, it was painted…pink.

"OK," said Liam. "That's weird."

"Must be our way out," said Henry.

They walked towards the pink door. Henry decided to be the one to open it. He first knocked on the door to make sure that there were no ink monsters on the other side. He placed his ear on the sound. There was barely breathing.

Almost.

On the other side, it sounded like there were…crickets.

Henry cautiously opened the door. He expected another dark room, but this one was…unexpected.

In this room, there were several rows of…well, gardens. Of course, the walls and floor were yellow, but there was barely a drip of ink in the room. It was all natural plants.

The room was gigantic. In the middle was a narrow long stony pathway with black swirls on it. On the sides, there were large beds of greenery. The lush green grass was swaying in the air…even though they were indoors.

Flowers sprouted from the grass. They all came in different shapes, colors and sizes. Most of the flowers were daisies, roses, sunflowers, lavender, buttercups, cherry blossoms and magnolias. Well, half of the flowers were magnolias.

To the trio's surprise, the flowers were glowing. They were glowing a yellow light as if they were made from heaven. Liam slowly went up to one of the magnolias and stroke his hand on the soft petals. The sweetness of the flower would have drip onto his Liam that would make him holy.

"Wow!" said Henry. "Is this a…garden?"

"Seems to be," said Harley.

Henry looked around at the territory of beauty. At first, he thought he was hallucinating, but it was real. The room was real. The garden was real. The grass was real. The flowers were real.

Henry shook his head. He remembered back in the haunted studio, there were barely any natural plants or light. He didn't expect that the warehouse he was stuck in at the moment was so…lively. At least one room to be precise.

Henry noticed a sorrowful look on Liam's face.

"Liam?" said Henry slowly. "Are you OK?"

Liam looked down. He looked like he was about to cry. "This…this garden was made by Liam before."

Harley gasped. "Now I remember. Just after we moved away from Brooklyn, Mitchell made this garden…as a gift."

"It was a special gift," said Liam. "He wanted to cheer me up."

"Then…how come it's here?" asked Henry.

Liam shrugged. "I don't know. He must have moved it down here. No wonder why it disappeared from our home."

He smelt the magnolias. "This…this flower is Mitchell's favorite."

Liam had tears forming in his eyes. Harley crept towards him.

"Are you alright?" said Harley.

Liam sniffed. "Not really. I…I don't know what to think about this."

Henry noticed something lying in the grass. "Huh? What's this?"

Liam looked at Henry with teary eyes. "What?"

Henry picked up the unknown item. It was a scrunched-up ball of paper. It had…writings on it.

He unwrapped it.

"It's…it's a letter," Henry said.

"What does it say?" asked Harley.

"Hold on," said Liam. "Let me read it. I know that handwriting before."

Henry obediently gave the letter to Liam. The young blonde teen pushed his hair back and read the letter.

_Dear Liam Von Richmond,_

_I know it's been a while since we talked. I know that you are still mad at. I don't know why this is all happening, but it seems that time is always against us._

_When I showed you this garden, I knew that you would be pleased…but you never said 'thanks' in return. I decided to put this garden under here, so that they can stay fresh from the outside world. So that…the weather or the people won't destroy this masterpiece._

_I want to say that I'm sorry for all of this. If we can, maybe…maybe you can be my brother again. We can try to pick up the pieces. We can become great people. We can become the best in the world. And there is this thing I'm doing that I want to show you. This will..._

Liam trailed off.

"What does it say?" said Henry.

Liam was silent for a while. "…nothing. There's a large clearing at the bottom. He seemed to have forgotten to write something here. However…there is one more…thing…"

_I hope you understand,_

_Mitchell Von Richmond._

When Liam finished the letter, he looked down. A tiny tear could be seen trickling down his face. He turned around to face the two adults. Henry was shocked. Harley understood well.

"So…" said Liam, his voice wavering. "He…he kept this garden…all safe…all safe from the rains…he…he did so much to bring all of this down here…he…kept it…for me…and I never get the chance to say 'thank you'."

There was a painful look on Liam's face. Henry didn't know what to do. Either to firmly point out to him that maybe he was rude to Mitchell in the first place or feel sorry for the kid.

Eventually, Henry patted Liam on the shoulder in genuine care. "This garden here…it seems to show that Mitchell does care for you."

Liam sniffed. He faintly smiled, but the pain of his brother's disappearance still left a huge hole in his heart.

"You said that you are used to the pain," said Henry in a hushed voice. "But you can't always hold it back for any longer."

Liam nodded. "I know. I…I can be upset, but I always have to remember that I have to look forward to the situation now."

"Speaking of which," said Harley. "Does this room leads to the surface?"

"Well," said Henry, placing a finger on his chin. "Mitchell somehow transported this garden here. That means that…there must be a way to the surface around here."

Liam placed the letter into his pockets. "OK then…I think it must be on the other side of this garden. There's this gate at the end of this garden…so…"

He trailed off, wiping his tears away. Henry sighed.

"Let's go," said Henry.

The trio walked off, going through the garden. Henry and Harley were looking straight, but Liam just stare at the flowers. He couldn't help, but just…stare at them. He remembered that day when Mitchell showed him the garden. Mitchell asked if Liam loved it, but the latter…didn't care. Liam didn't say 'thank you' or smile. He just…silently walked away. He didn't bother to see the heartbroken look on Mitchell.

At that time, Liam was upset with his brother for the mess they were in that he started to ignore him. Mitchell took this hard and tried his best to get Liam's attention. Seeing the garden again made Liam regret ignoring Mitchell.

"You're OK?" asked Harley.

"Sorry," said Liam. "I was just…lost in thought."

"We all are. I'm sorry about Mitchell. I am supposed to look after both of you because of your parents' disappearance, so I feel responsible for Mitchell's death. I will make sure that we can tidy up this whole warehouse and push away the misery."

Liam slightly smiled. "Thanks."

Henry smiled hearing this. It was nice to hear Harley cheering up her adoptive son. He halted when he saw an impressive large black wired gate.

"Wow," he said. "Would you look at this!"

Harley and Liam looked at the gate.

"Mitchell did a lot of work on this," said Harley. "He had to put all those details perfectly."

"Hang on," said Liam, looking at the gate. "It's covered in…ink."

True to his word, the gate was dripping in ink. Henry inspected the gate for a while, before noticing something behind it.

On the other side of the gate, there was a dead end…and an elevator. There were buttons labelled with numbers and a large door entrance to the…well…unknown.

The elevator AND the door was missing. The what-supposed-to-be-the elevator was removed, showing a large vertical hole. The hole's walls were dripping in ink.

"Oh good," said Liam. "An inky hole."

"Does this lead to the surface?" said Henry.

Harley peeped her head through the entrance and looked up. Light could be seen from the top.

"Must be," said Harley. "But the level we are at is too deep. The surface is too high."

"We gotta find a way to get to the surface."

"But how?" said Liam. "We can't get up there. The elevator is missing, the hole is too deep, the surface is too high and the walls are slippery!"

Henry looked down the hole. "Maybe the elevator is down there!"

He had a point. The hole was circle-shaped, so you could see a square-shaped object at the bottom.

"Must be," said Liam.

"But how are we going to get down there?" said Harley.

"Look."

On the side, there were ridges poking out of the walls. They were forming a ladder to the bottom. Pity that there weren't enough ridges to lead them to the surface.

"Maybe we can use those," said Liam.

"Everyone, get down," said Henry shrugging.

Henry grabbed onto the ladder first. Harley went next and Liam went last. The trio climbed down the ladder. They climbed carefully for 30 minutes without talking. Some of the ridges were too big and some were too small. By the time the square-shaped object was close to them, their fingers were numb.

"Geez," said Henry as they landed onto the elevator. "How deep did they dig down?"

"I'm not sure," said Harley, her forehead sweating. "But one thing for sure, we must be close to the core of the Earth!"

Liam bent down and opened the hatch. The trio carefully climbed through the hatch and got into the elevator. Its door was open, revealing a long hallway.

"OK," said Henry, turning to the control panel. "Let's get this thing started."

His face turned pale. He realised that he COULDN'T get the elevator started.

Why's that?

The control panel was opened, revealing all its machinery. There was an empty slot saying 'INSERT BATTERY'.

"What?" said Henry dumbfounded.

"Ah, great," said Liam. "It looks like the control panel is broken."

"Not really," said Harley. "It said that it needs a…battery. If we can find one that is the size of that slot, then it will power up this elevator."

"Where can we find one?"

Henry looked behind and faced the long hallway.

"Only one way to find out," said Henry, taking a step towards the hallway.

"What?!" said Harley. "What are you doing?"

"Like I said; 'only one way to find out'. Maybe there is a battery out there."

Harley sighed. "I'm not sure about it. We are underground and finding a battery is completely impossible."

"We have to find something to lead us back up there!"

"Can we use the ladder?"

"But that ladder doesn't lead us to the surface," pointed out Liam.

"I…I'm not sure about this," said Harley, growing frustrated. "This is stupid! We came here for NOTHING."

Henry looked at Harley with a strict look. "So you're saying that this is the end?"

"What?" said Harley. "No…it's…it's just that…I'm tired of bumping into those ink monsters. I'm tired of getting these jump scares. I'm tired of all this mess. I know that we did so much to get here, but is it worth even the slightest risk of dying by going through deeper into this place?"

Henry was silent for a while. "That is not what I am proposing to do. I want to get to the surface so that we can shut down the Ink Machine and the pentagram. We got to find that battery or we will be stuck here, unless you want to spend the next 100 years getting to the surface. We can't just stand here and do nothing. Many people have died already. I can't have that happened. We need to face THIS danger if we are going to get out of hell."

Liam stood by Henry. "He's right. The longer we stay here, the worse the invasion will be back on the surface."

Harley sighed. "I guess…but dang it. This is SO stupid."

"C'mon and stop whining. We have a battery hunt."

Harley sighed and followed the two men. They had a point.

The three humans walked off into the hallway. Again, they had this creeping feeling going through their spines. The walls and floors were in a dark tone of brown. There were ink stains everywhere. Whispers could be heard.

THUMP!

THUMP!

Henry broke into a cold sweat. "Am I the only one hearing this?"

"Nope," said Harley nervously, looking around.

They reached the end of the hallway to find a large door. There was a nearby lever. Henry went up to it and pulled it.

What they saw was disturbing.

Right in front of their eyes was a large cavern-like rooms with rocky walls and formations. There were diamonds, gold and rubies flashing on the walls. There were minecarts and railroad tracks lining the floor.

This place WOULDN'T be disturbing because the shiny rocks on the walls looked dazzling.

The only disturbing thing about this place was its condition.

There were THOUSANDS of humans walking around the mine. They were all dressed in black and orange suits that resembled prisoner clothes. They were carrying shovels and pickaxes. Some of them were mining the rocks to excavate the gems while others pushed mine carts filled with boulders and gems.

They were all in a bad shape. They had dark rings around their eyes and their faces were dirtied with dust and ink.

Loud screeches could be heard. There were buff-looking ink monsters who were acting as the guards of the mine. They were roaring at the humans to hurry up their work or using whiplashes to punish the humans.

One ink monster had a young boy cornered. The monster roared and bit onto the boy. The young boy screamed in pain, but his cries were drowned out as he gradually turned into a hideous tall ink monster. The now-deformed boy let out a roar and joined the rest of the guards.

"Oh no…" said Harley.

"What's going on here?" choked out Henry.

* * *

**Bendy's POV, 5/09 (at 6 am)**

I woke up the next day as the sun shone in my face. I yawned and slowly got up, rubbing my eyes. Honestly, I nearly forgot about what happened last night. I wasn't feeling great because of how Elena acted. She yelled at Spider for messing with her and ran to the bathroom.

I didn't know what to say about this, but I know that those two had to learn.

Elena didn't have the right to just yell at Spider. That kid just wanted to have some fun. Elena was overreacting about dancing and being kissed on the cheek. I thought that she would have enjoyed it, but she only showed hatred. She should have known that Spider was trying to have fun, but she decided to show hostility to this idea. She shouldn't have raised her voice.

Spider wasn't the brightest of the bulbs and his idea wasn't a good idea. Of course, he was trying to lighten up the whole room, but he didn't seem to understand that what he did with Elena was uncomfortable. He just randomly invited Elena in and kissed her on the cheek. Spider might be nice, but he didn't seem to understand if Elena was willing to join in.

I spotted Laura looking out the window. There was an alienated look on her face that I had never seen before.

Normally, I would see her waking up in the morning with that gorgeous smile. She was always so energetic, positive and happy. She would always talk to those around her, talking about what they would be doing for the day or how they were. Sure she would get upset at times, but she always get past them easily. However, she looked…uneasy.

She was frowning as she stared out the window. I saw the look on her face. It was the same look she had when Elena shut herself in the bathroom. She looked…depressed.

I jumped off the beanbag pile I was sleeping on and headed towards Laura. I stopped when I saw Damien looking at Laura.

"Oh," said Damien stony. "Morning, Bendy."

"Good morning," I said. "How are you?"

"A bit tired from doing the night shift, but anything other than that; good."

He looked at Laura.

"Is there something going on with Laura?" I asked.

"Yeah…I know that look before," said Damien.

"You saw her like THIS before?"

Damien nodded. "Yeah."

I shook my head. "This is kind of rare. Laura is the positive person out from the group. It doesn't seem right. She always tries to find a key to a door and a piece to a puzzle. Even when through tears, she wipes them off and keeps going no matter what. I never seen her THIS upset before. She is always a positive sunshine."

"That doesn't mean she is always peppy. Would you be troubled if YOUR cousin did a stupid mistake? I don't know much about Elena, but she is living with Laura, right? Elena is now a sister to Laura, so Laura is…responsible for everything Elena does. Elena yelling at Spider for a sick reason – that's a problem Laura has to untangle. And Elena hasn't gone out of the bathroom yet."

I sighed. "Maybe I should talk with her."

"I'm not sure about that," said Damien, grabbing my shoulder. "I think it's best to leave her alone for a while."

"There's no way I'm gonna leave someone alone. If there is a problem, I need Laura to speak it out."

"But is that a bright idea?"

I turned to him. "Many workers from the Joey Drew Studios had been trapped in there for 10 years. When they got back to normal, they have to take therapy. It didn't go well and they try to isolate themselves. You – as well – even locked yourself away from the world and Draco helped you to get out of that hope you dug. Are you saying that it is wrong for me to reach out to someone?"

Damien's face turned pale when I explicitly told him about his depression. His emerald green eyes were shaking in emotion, but immediately hardened.

"I see," said Damien. "So…Draco told you about it?"

I nodded. "Sorry."

Damien sighed. "I guess so…it's just that…I thought she just needed some time alone."

I shrugged. "Maybe. But there are times when people need to be together."

I walked towards Laura; her pink eyes staring out at the dangerous scenes outside the safety of the bus.

"Hi Laura," I said.

Laura looked at me before gazing back at the window. "Morning."

"Are you doing OK?"

Laura sighed. "Everything's OK."

I stayed silent. "You don't look OK."

"I'm OK. I just need to keep my spirits high, so that I can concentrate on the bigger picture."

"But you appear to look…stressed."

Laura still didn't look at me.

"Listen," I said, getting closer to her. "I understand why you're upset."

"Why should I? I am perfectly fine."

I sighed. "Do I need to remind you what happened with those workers from the studio? Do I need to remind you how bad Henry took when he was in the haunted studio? And do I need to remind you how much I am troubled from being stuck in that studio? Please. It's OK to be upset. You don't need to claim that you are fine. You…you seem to be acting like Elena."

"I'm nothing like Elena."

"But I saw you upset!" I said, raising my voice. "You were frowning when you slept and now I see you frowning. This isn't the Laura I see every day. Please tell me what's troubling you. Is it about what happened last night?"

"What?! That was ages ago."

"You mean at least 11 hours ago."

"Same thing. And it's already over."

"But we haven't solved the problem. Elena is still in that bathroom and yet you say that is fine. Were you that insecure before?"

Laura's eyes narrowed. "I-Insecure?"

I realized my mistake. "Wait. No. My mistake. Insecure was the wrong word. I should say-"

I was cut off when she spun around.

"INSECURE?!" she suddenly snapped. "I'm telling you; even if it was just an hour ago, that was ages ago! We already past them and there is no way to undo them. I already got over that. Do you know what is insecure? Those workers from that studio spazzing out of control due to suffering PTSD and loneliness. I never experienced that before! Even if I do, I will never be like one of those brooding f***ing guys! So stop saying that I'm upset!"

Damien rushed to my side. He closed Laura's mouth…before slapping her face.

"W…what?" said Laura, snapping out from her sudden rage. "Why did you do that?"

"To kick some sense in your damn brain!" barked Damien. "Is it just me or do you have an IQ of a crayon?! I tell you who is the brooding f***king guy. That's me there and you're saying that I don't belong here?! I lost my parents. I lost my only family. I blamed myself and never forgave myself. Draco helped me and pulled me out from my broken shell, so that I could move on and go to a brighter path. I would never be lonely again if I accept help, trust, love and support from others. YOU – on the other hand – kept bottling emotions and pretended that you are fine. You are always like 'oh, I am so happy. I don't need anyone's help. The case is already solved.' DO YOU KNOW HOW SICK I AM WITH YOUR POSITIVITY DURING SUMMER?!"

Damien started shouting, causing Laura to flinch back…but that didn't stop her from coming up with her own excuse.

"**SERIOUSLY!**" she yelled, pushing Damien away. "I'M NOT UPSET! How can I prove to show that I'm not upset about ANYTHING?! I just…"

She trailed off. Her anger slowly melted into a grief-struck face. A single tear fell from her eyes.

Not a single sound escaped from her lips.

And then this;

"…I'm a failure," she whimpered.

She fell backwards, sitting on a pile of beanbags. Damien calmed down, but he looked upset as well.

"Laura," I said. "Please. Along with Alice, you are the closest thing I've ever have to a sister. Why do keep things to yourself?"

Laura wrapped her arms around her legs.

"I…I just want to move on," whimpered Laura. "The reason why I…I try to hide my feelings is because…because I want to be happy. I want to still feel hopeful. I want to be a positive girl AND an incredible leader. I don't want to be a burden to everyone, even to myself. I thought I could handle it because I've been fighting my whole life without lots of tears. I know that I told Elena that she shouldn't hide her emotions, but…I want to be positive, so that she would cheer up. I…I just want to be a good person."

I gave Laura a loving hug. "You are already a good person…to everyone…but sometimes, there are days when everyone hurts…that's what Henry told me."

I let go. Laura wiped a tear from her eye.

"The thing that is bothering me is that…" said Laura. "…I feel responsible for getting Spider upset."

"Huh?" I said.

"Now, I'm the sister of Elena. I'm supposed to look after her. I'm supposed to make sure that she doesn't do s***. But she is SO difficult. Elena is the one who is insecure. She seems to be hiding something behind those sunglasses. I want to find out, but she refuses to. I feel like I was supposed to stop Elena from yelling at Spider, but…I didn't do anything…"

I sighed. "It's not really your fault. I mean, we really didn't get to know Elena well. I just hope that we will understand what's wrong with her."

"Even worse, I tried to comfort Elena, but she locked herself all night long. I want to make her happy, but it seems like she is hiding herself away from me. I…I don't want to become distant from my close ones…I already destroyed…one."

"…what?"

Laura was silent for a while. "My boyfriend."

I blinked. "Whoa! What happened? Was it a serious breakup?"

"…no…it was more than that."

She was silent again, before talking. "At the start of this year, there was this new guy…and both of us became a couple. I never felt this happy before. 6 months, we became a good couple…but…one day, something happened. Spider was friends with that guy's twin brother and an argument caused them to be split apart. That brother made it worse; he posted horrible rumors about Spider all over the social media. Even for some reason, my boyfriend took part in this, sending fake inappropriate pictures of Spider. Spider was really upset about this. Barrett snapped at this because he saw Spider in tears – and he tried to kill my boyfriend and his brother. It didn't end well and Spider was scarred permanently. Everyone teamed up to kick my boyfriend out of school. I was the leader because I am a member of the school council and the closest to that guy. I told him that we couldn't have him around with us and unfortunately, he was expelled from school because of that fight he got into with Barrett AND for cyber-bullying. You see, during that time, we all thought that he was acting like a fake friend, but when I saw the look in his eyes, I realized that he never intended to post up those images. It was already too late for him and even Barrett tried to apologize, only for that guy to run away. I regretted my decision to kick him out. When summer started, I feel into a depression for one month. I would cry on my pillow and kept telling myself that I was a horrible person. I tried to call my boyfriend, but he blocked me. I tried to tell myself that I still love him, but…I was starting to look away from him. Soon, I found out that I was no longer in love with him. My parents never notice this, but all the students know about this. Eventually, I shrugged it off, thinking that it's already past and I don't need to worry about it anymore. The only way I move on is telling myself that I will never see my ex-boyfriend ever again. I still have that heartache, but I always brush it off with a confident mask. Even though what happened last night wasn't that much of a problem, I still feel guilty for not reaching out to Elena."

I placed a hand on hers. "I'm sorry about that. You don't have to feel that you are responsible for your loved ones to go into chaos. You don't have to hide them. We both can feel guilty of not doing the right thing."

Laura smiled. "But hey, it's already in the past."

"But we can find a way to make things right for the future. We can still find out what is wrong with Elena. Maybe you will be able to reconnect with your boyfriend. You are not alone in this. You know that there are people who care about you."

Laura sniffed and rubbed my horns. "You're a good demon, Bendy. Good as God."

I chuckled. "I still don't know who 'God' is."

"…thank you."

Laura hugged me again. I wrapped my arms around her. I turned my back to see Damien who gave me a small smile of approval.

I was happy for helping Laura.

Both of us let go. At this, we heard the bathroom's door opening. Elena slowly came out. I looked behind. She still wore those sunglasses.

Upon seeing Elena, Spider got up and went to her.

"Um, Elena?" said Spider nervously.

Elena stayed silent for a while. "Yes?"

"Wait, let me do something."

He slowly took off Elena's sunglasses and placed them on top of her head.

"Hey," said Elena. "I thought I told you-"

"I just need to know how you're feeling," said Spider. "But I can't tell by those sunglasses of yours."

Elena didn't speak back.

"Anyway…I want to say sorry to you for…being a bit…eh…pushy you may say? I thought it would be fun if we could just dance together…I didn't know…"

Elena looked down. "It's alright. Sorry for yelling back."

Spider smiled. "Speaking of which, why do you wear those shades all the time? Where did you get them from?"

Elena sighed. "They belong to my mum. These glasses are the last piece of memorabilia I have before my parents passed away."

Spider gasped. "Oh dear…"

"It's OK. I'm used to this."

Spider shuddered hearing this. "And is there another reason why you keep wearing them other than honoring your mum?"

Elena bit her lip. "Well-!"

SPUTTER!

The bus abruptly stopped. Nearly everyone fell down.

"What the hell was that?!" shrieked Jace.

"Language!" I said.

"Sorry," said Sven, who was on the wheel. "Just some engine problems."

"And is this 'engine problem' minor?" asked Alissa.

"Just hold on…"

The bus had trouble trying to move. It moved for a while, before stopping. It moved and stopped for a while…before a loud cracking noise could be heard.

DED.

POOF!

Smoke could be seen trailing out from the front hood.

"Ah, crap," said Sven.

At this, Draco woke up. He rubbed his face. "What is going on?"

Sven bit his lip. "The engine's overheated."

"What?"

Damien came close and looked at the trailing grey smoke slowly coming out from the hood.

"Hmm," said Damien. "It appears that a lot of fuel was used for this bus. We had been using this for too long that the engine overheated. And by the looks of the sun, the hot weather isn't helping as well."

"Can we try to run this thing again?" asked Laura as we all came towards the front.

"We can try to," explained Damien. "But this will cause the engine to malfunction. We can still move it under some shade, so that it can cool down for a few minutes or hours."

Sven sighed. "OK then."

With the remaining power, Sven drove the bus. He managed to park the bus under a shady tree; its long branches swaying in the air.

"So where are we now?" asked Lucy.

Alissa took out a map. "Let's see; it appears that we are at the halfway point. Somewhere in the middle of the United States. Maybe in Kansas, Nebraska or Colorado."

"Oh well," said Spider, looking outside. "Wherever the heck we are in, the forest here looks nice."

I looked out the window. I saw that on the sides of the road, there were huge gardens of forests. Forests of green trees. There were a lot of green leaves. They were swaying in the air by the cool summer breeze. The sun was shining, giving a warm light to the Earth…even though it overheated the bus. It appeared that there were no ink monsters.

HOOT! HOOT!

Almost.

From the distance, deeper into the forest, we could see an ink monster. It was shaped like an ape and its lips were bright red. It was making a strange mating sound as it swung on the trees. At one point, it saw us.

"Oh boy," said Draco.

The ape-like creature just pouted its lips and let out a loud burp. It then ran away into the forest.

"OK," said Elena, creeped out. "That is a bit weird."

"I'm getting bored of this," said Sven. "How can we get the bus to move again? I don't want to waste time sitting here waiting for the bus to cool down."

"Maybe we can place some ice on it?" recommended Lucy.

"Oh good," said Alissa sarcastically. "That's a butt-load of ice you're gonna need. How are you going to get it?"

"We can add another roof to cover up the hood," suggested Jace.

"I'm not sure if we can do that," said Damien. "We haven't packed all the supplies we need, so I don't have the materials to make a new roof."

I got an idea. "Maybe we can turn on the heater. This can excess heat from the engine into the car."

"That's going to blow," said Elena flatly. "This will melt all of us."

"Maybe we can feed the engine some ice cream!" said Spider smiling.

Clyde rolled his eyes. "Wow. Ripper! Maybe it's about time that we should find the mouth of the engine!"

"OK then!" said Spider about to go out.

"Do you know that I'm being sarcastic, bogan?"

Clyde groaned and looked at himself at the window. Using the reflection, he tied his hair up in the same high short ponytail. The streak on his hair already turned to blonde.

"Huh?" he said. "What's that?"

"What do you mean?" asked Laura.

"I think I saw…someone on the other side of the road."

"Maybe that guy can help us," said Lucy.

"Wait," said Sven, squinting his eyes to get a better look at that person. "Hang on a second…"

On the other side of the road, we could see the back of a person. That was when this 'person' turned around revealing to be…

…an ink monster.

This one looked funny.

It was skinny. Its skin had a lot of wrinkles and covered in dirt. It was wearing a tattered shirt and a clunky-looking hat. Its face was messy. The mouth was missing a large number of teeth. Its eyes were wonky and its hair was overgrown.

And oh, that creature spotted us.

"**Oh My GoSh!**" it exclaimed in a weird elderly voice. "**Is ThAt YoU jOhAnSsOn?!**"

Sven's face went pale. "Oh god, please no."

"You know THAT guy before?" I said.

Sven was silent for a while before recovering. "How come HE is here?! And why is that hobo like THAT?!"

"**I hAvE bEeN lOsT iN tHiS pLaCe FoR dAyS!**" said the ink hobo as it ran towards us.

At this, everyone started to panic. Sven fumbled with the controls as he tried to start the bus up.

"Hurry up!" said Clyde trembling. "It's coming!"

"I'M TRYING!" yelled Sven, moving the lever up and down.

"**YoU hAvE cOmE hErE tO mAkE lOvE wItH mE!**" said the ink hobo as it came closer.

Jace lost it. He held up a crucifix. "AH! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!"

"Really?!" said Alissa. "Are you attempting black magic?!"

Everything went into slow motion. You could hear the loud stomps as that weird monster ran towards us.

"Time to go now!" said Elena, locking the door.

Finally, Sven managed to start the bus.

The bus drove off in a flash. It was going as fast as a bullet shot from a gun.

We were away from that hobo.

Everyone took a moment to breath.

"Phew!" said Lucy. "That was close."

"But it's just one ink monster!" said Laura.

"But it wants to rape us!" said Sven, his eyes bulging out.

"Good thing we got away…" I said.

Jace looked around. "OK…I think he's gone…"

Oh, he was WRONG.

"**HELLO!**" yelled the hobo, appearing on the front window.

Jace let out a high-pitched scream.

It was madness.

With the hobo on the front window, nobody could see where we were going. Sven was swaying the bus from side to side as the hobo hung on. Everyone was screaming as the hobo was making horrible love comments.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" screamed Sven. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

Alissa growled like a tiger as she pressed the windshield button. "Get the f*** out of here!"

"Language!" I said.

The windshield turned on. It struck the hobo in the face. Then again. And again. And again. And again.

But the hobo still hung on.

And every time it was hit on the face with the windshield, its face changed looks. It ranged from silly to ugly to horrifying.

"That's…it…" said Damien seething.

He used the roof door to get out of the bus and headed towards the hood of the car. Bearing aloft a sledgehammer, he used it to bang the hobo on the head.

"**WhY dOn'T yOu LoVe Me, SeNpAi?**" said the hobo as it was repeatedly whacked on the head.

"GET OFF THIS BUS!" yelled Damien.

WHACK!

Finally, he managed to whack the hobo off.

"**SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…!**" it yelled as it fell off.

It was all silence except for the roar of the engine. As Damien got back in the bus, we all looked behind to see if the hobo was REALLY off the bus.

"WHAHOO!" yelled Sven in joy. "We did it!"

We all celebrated. Sven put on some music as we danced to it.

OK…not all of us celebrated. Elena, Draco, Alissa, Damien and Clyde were still shocked, trying to process what just happened.

And when Sven looked at the front, there was a speeding car coming towards us…and oh, an ink monster was on the top of the car, wielding a LARGE FREAKING KNIFE.

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Before Sven could swerve the bus, the ink monster let out a screech, hopped and…

SLICE!

Sliced the car. It landed back onto the speeding car, riding off in the distance.

The bus wasn't lucky.

Because of how IMPOSSIBLY strong the knife was, the front of the bus was chopped off. That was right. The hood, the engine and the front wall that protected us from outside. We screamed as the bus cart went spinning across the road before coming to a stop upon hitting a tree.

We just stood there, eyes widened and mouths opened.

The engine and the hood laid there on the road…

…before ANOTHER speeding car drove by…crashing through the engine on the way.

What was left of the engine were scraps.

Sven slowly looked down to see the now-orphaned wheel.

The bus was COMPLETELY useless at the moment.

"**ThAt'S wHaT yOu GeT fOr ReJeCtINg Me, ScRuBs!**" said the hobo as it caught up with us. "**NoW cAn I sLeEp WiTh AlL oF yOu ToNiGhT?! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE! pLeAsE-!**"

And Sven lost it.

"I'M SICK OF YOUR S***!" he yelled.

He grabbed the throat of the hobo and tossed him into the air. We watched as the hobo soared through the air.

"**WhEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeE!**" the hobo exclaimed as it disappeared into the forest. "**I cAn FlY!**"

I looked at Sven. He was panting hardly, obviously mad from the craziness and the retarded hobo.

"Language!" I said.

We all slowly got out from the bus. Nobody got hurt, but everyone looked REALLY mad that the bus was destroyed. Draco was the first to lose steam.

"Oh…my…GOSH!" he snarled. "LOOK AT THIS! Where's the other half of the bus?!"

"Our bus," said Damien flatly.

"If you had your eyes on the road, we wouldn't have lost our ONLY transport that could shelter us!" yelled Draco, pointing at Sven.

"It wasn't my fault!" said Sven, holding his hands up. "That hobo was in the way! And isn't this bus supposed to be bullet-proof?!"

"Well, you bloody idiots shouldn't be dancing around when we lost that hobo," said Clyde. "You bogans should have kept your eyes on this bloody road. How blind can you guys be?"

Laura looked away hearing that comment.

Jace rolled his eyes.

Lucy looked hurt.

Spider didn't speak.

"Shut it, Australian Asian," said Sven, narrowing his eyes. "Nobody asked your ass to speak up."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Clyde half-sarcastically. "But would adults say the same arse thing as well, dummy?"

"Language!" I said.

Sven was about to speak, but Elena spoke.

"I have to agree with him," said Elena hesitantly. "We wouldn't be stuck here if it wasn't for anyone's stupidity."

Sven sighed. "OK…apologies for the bus."

"It's cool," said Clyde. "What I like to know is what are we going to do now?"

"Well," said Damien, rubbing his head. "The bus is busted. The engine's gone…and I don't have enough materials to make a new one."

Alissa face palmed. "Right. We forgot to pack in an extra engine for this bus."

Sven looked back at the broken bus. "R.I.P Gold Strap."

I groaned, rubbing my face. "We're all gonna die…"

Spider got an idea. "I have an idea."

He stepped to the side of the road as close as he dared and he extended his right arm, making the thumbs-up.

"What are you doing?" asked Laura.

"Hitchhiking," said Spider smirking.

"That is stupid," said Alissa. "There are no cars out here."

"But we saw some."

"True, but aren't those cars driven by INK MONSTERS?"

"Don't worry! Maybe there might be some survivors!"

At this, the roar of a speeding car could be heard far away. Spider cleared his throat and got into a neat position. We all watched as the car came closer.

"Over heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!" sang Spider.

SPLAT!

Only for the car to pass by and the driver to throw a ball of ink at Spider's face.

"I can't feel my eyeballs," muffled Spider through the ink.

Jace groaned. "You dullard. You absolute dullard."

He looked back at the bus. "Well, since we still have our belongings, maybe we can just pack up and continue to head to San Francisco."

"But how are we going to get there?" asked Sven.

Jace gave him a look. "We just go by foot!"

Everyone gasped. "What?!"

"Yeah," said Jace as if the answer was obvious. "And the longer we wait, the worse the invasion will be."

"Hold up," said Draco. "I don't want to burst your bubble, but we can't make it to San Francisco. We need to find a proper transport to get us all there."

"And do you know how to get one?"

Draco shrugged. "We can wait, until a bus come over and we shoot the driver."

"My apologies," said Sven. "I'm with Draco. We can still use the bus."

"But how do you exactly use that old wreck now?" said Jace.

CRASH!

As if on cue, a large piece from the bus fell down. This time, Spider smirked. Sven rolled his eyes.

"Maybe we can fix it," suggested Lucy helpfully.

Damien groaned and kicked the bus. "This damned thing is totaled. Kaboom, blammo, busted! Never to drive again."

"But you're the smart one!" I said. "You can tweak a few parts here and-"

"I already told you I'm not THAT smart!" shouted Damien. "It took me about 4 years to learn how to make this thing. Want me to fix this vehicle for the next 8 years? Besides, I don't have any spare parts. I can't make another engine without the right materials. And if you think I'm going to use THOSE TREES to put the bus together, then you're crazy."

A worried look appeared on Laura's face. "So…that's it? We're never gonna get to Henry or Barrett or the Ink Machine?"

"C'mon!" said Spider. "We can fix it! We can put the pieces back together!"

"For God's sake," said Elena, shaking her head. "We are NOT professional builders. We haven't got that much time. Like Damien said, it will take us 24 years to build that thing."

"Crikey," grumbled Clyde. "We shouldn't be acting like sooks now, just whinging away. What should we do? Just stand around here?"

"There's nothing we can do," said Alissa grimly. "This is just great. We are stuck."

Jace sighed after waiting for a while for him to speak. "AND THAT'S MY POINT! If we don't move, we will be stuck here forever! Or worse, those ink monsters may catch up with us now."

"We can't get to San Francisco that easy!" said Draco. "Not on foot."

"We must," said Jace, hopping onto the bus. "We have to go to San Francisco – vehicle or not. It will be just a hunch."

"I don't know, Jace," said Lucy worriedly. "We've never really walked that far."

"I don't think I will be able to pick up the pace," said Damien.

"I doubt we won't last long in the forest," said Sven.

I stood up, finally understanding Jace's point. "We can't just stand here. Jace has a point. Fixing the bus or hoping that there would be a vehicle would waste our time from getting to the Ink Machine. And don't make me remind you that we are NOW wasting time, discussing what to do. We got to go. Like Jace said, vehicle or not. If we don't get to San Francisco, it can be all over by then. A whole world covered in ink. I want to get to Henry as much as all of you want, but at least we can get to the city before the world is completely corrupted. The longer we wait here, we will all be in grave danger."

Elena stood by my side. "I have to agree with him."

"Well, I can REALLY take some stretches and hikes for the remainder of this journey," said Spider.

Alissa nodded in agreement. Sven and Damien stood by her side as if they agreed with us. Even Pitbull was behind them.

"At least we don't have to be cramped in a rented bus," said Alissa.

Clyde shrugged. "I guess a little walk won't hurt."

Lucy and Draco were the odd ones out.

"2 to 10," said Laura. "Walking wins."

Draco sighed. "I'm sorry. I just feared that we won't get to the Ink Machine in time without a transport."

I smiled before hopping onto his shoulders, patting him on his short hair. "We will get there soon."

Lucy went up to Jace. "I don't think I will make it."

Jace smiled. "Don't worry. I will wait up near the mountain for you to catch up."

Lucy giggled at this and the two kissed.

"OK then," said Draco. "Everyone, grab everything you need from the bus and let's go."

We all got into the bus and pulled out any belongings that we needed for the walk. I didn't need to pack since I didn't bring anything, so I decided to help out carrying some supplies. Everyone got their own bags and stuff, and we were all aimed with weapons.

To my delight, I was allowed to have a gun. It was risky, but it was better than using a sharp, breakable axe.

Elena, Lucy and Clyde were wielding guns.

Spider and Damien held onto flamethrowers.

Jace and Draco were carrying daggers.

Alissa and Pitbull brought along sledgehammers.

Sven and Laura had sniper rifles in their hands.

"Got everything we need?" asked Laura.

Everyone nodded.

"OK then," said Draco. "Say goodbye to the 'Gold Strap'."

"Bye 'Gold Strap'," said Alissa, Damien and Sven in the same monotonous voice as if they don't miss their beloved bus.

We all started to walk away from the bus and walked forward on the road.

"Everyone," informed Draco as he took out a map. "Our bags have enough food and water to hold and fill us all up. Careful with your weapons because we don't have extra bullets or backups. Go easy on them because I'm not sure how long we'll have to hold out."

"I think we will hold them on forever," said Spider confidently. "Don't worry. We are all together on a long, slow trip across the country with the Mighty Spider. We get to climb mountains, slide down hills, enjoy the beautiful sun, see the bright stars of night and we'll be together. Just like going on a field trip."

"Oh," said Alissa flatly. "Yay…like a field trip."

"Don't be so down!" said Spider. "We'll be as close as a family. This won't take too long!"

* * *

**Third Person's POV, San Francisco**

Barrett and Tuesday woke up early the next morning. Since the area they were in was already crowded with a new batch of ink monsters, they had to leave.

"And all of us will leave…!" sang Tuesday as the two of them packed food into their backpacks.

Crickets.

"…y'all gotta leave."

Barrett shook his head in disgust. "Let's not try to sing loudly or we will create attention."

An incoherent babbling could be heard.

"Ah," said Barrett. "We forgot about your baby brother."

"What should we do with Quill?" asked Tuesday.

Barrett thought for a while before sighing in dismay. "We're gonna bring him along."

Tuesday was shocked. "WHAT?!"

"I'm so sorry. This place isn't a good place for him anymore. We have to bring him along."

"But it's dangerous out here!"

"So is staying here. If he stays here by himself, he would be eaten by those monsters! Even worse, he will be all by himself. He's too young to be alone here! He needs at least to be near a…ahem…a SUPERVISION FIGURE."

Tuesday sighed. "You have a point. But let's try to be careful with him."

Tuesday grabbed an extra backpack and put in at least 8 diapers, two boxes of baby wipes, baby powder, clothes, Quill's teddy bear, jars of baby food and a pacifier to keep Quill quiet.

"OK," said Tuesday, placing Quill gently in the baby backpack. "And for safety reasons, I'm carrying Quill in front."

Barrett looked at Tuesday as she carried her bag on her back while using the bag Quill was on in front. It was kind of weird to see Tuesday carrying those bags.

"OK then," said Barrett. "Let's go."

The two teens – along with Tuesday taking care of Quill who was sucking on his pacifier – headed over to the back door. When they opened the door, they found out that the garden was isolated.

Quietly, they slowly walked across the garden and looked over the wooden fence. They both gasped. The streets were flooded with ink monsters.

"Oh no," said Tuesday. "How are we supposed to get pass them?"

Barrett's face lit up. "I just have the greatest idea ever."

* * *

**3 hours later…**

"This is the stupidest idea ever," said Tuesday as they walked through the SEWERS.

"At least we don't have to face those ink monsters up there!" said Barrett.

"But aren't there any here?"

"There doesn't seem to be. They must be busy on the surface."

Tuesday caught a whiff of the smell. "Pee-YEW! It smells like somebody died here!"

Barrett looked around. Damn, Tuesday was right. It did SMELL like there was a dead body. The sewers were a connection of million tunnels with two platforms on each side with a river filled with quarantine water. When they looked down, they caught a glimpse of poop bobbing up and down. The smell was rancid; a combination of smelly saltwater and rotten soy sauce eggs. The lights were dull, giving low illumination for them to see.

It reminded them of when they were stuck in that toilet stall, except worse…and smellier.

Barrett nearly vomited when he saw ink stains trailing along in the murky water.

"This is unacceptable…" mumbled Barrett.

"**UNACCEPTABLE!**" yelled a voice from above.

The two blonde teens froze.

"Please tell me that was just from a TV," said Tuesday.

Barrett shrugged. "Might be."

They continued to walk off. Using Barrett's phone, they were able to track down where the warehouse was. When they finally arrived, their feet were sore and numb. They needed to take some sweet fresh air.

Barrett was the first to get out of the sewer hole. "AHHHHHH! Good grief. Finally, some fresh air."

Tuesday was the next to get out. She placed her front bag down and started kissing the ground.

"Don't celebrate yet," said Barrett. "We need to get inside THERE."

In front of them was the warehouse. It was old and broken, the paint peeling off, the windows shattered and the metal walls began to rust. However, contrast to what Henry saw, the warehouse at that time was already a mess. There was a lot of ink covering the warehouse. The scary thing was that there was blood mixed in the ink. The door was opened, leading to the shadows inside.

The strangest thing was that there were barely any ink monsters coming out from the warehouse, so it made the whole building seemingly deserted.

"That's odd," said Barrett. "The last time I checked, there should ink monsters coming out from the entrance."

"At least we don't have to face them," said Tuesday, carrying Quill and pulling Barrett into the warehouse.

The two blonde teens made it inside the building. It was dark and cold. There was a breeze that made them wanted to bring along jackets. Ink painted the whole place. There were mysterious writings on the walls such as '_GET OUT! GET OUT!_', '_YOU WILL PERISH!_' and '_THE LORD IS WAITING FOR YOU._'

"What the f*** is going on here?" said Barrett.

They finally entered a large room. On the left side was a stage and on the right side was the Ink Machine. In the middle of the room was a glowing pentagram surrounded by 12 candles.

Compared to what Henry saw in the first place, Barrett and Tuesday saw something…odd.

"Oh," said Barrett, being the first to spot the new…eh…'thing'. "That's new."

Hanging from the ceiling was a leg – that SEEMED to be cut off from the human body – covered in ink stains. That was the only remain of Beast Bendy's first target.

"Well," said Tuesday. "At least there is no blood for Quill to see."

Barrett gave her a glare.

"The Ink Machine is up there," said Tuesday. "Should we destroy it?"

"I'm not sure," said Barrett, looking at the glowing pentagram. "Destroying the Ink Machine won't solve all our problems. Besides, I think there is something more to stop the ink invasion."

"Hey," said Tuesday, nudging Barrett. "Look!"

She was pointing to an opened door.

"I wonder," said Barrett.

They headed over to the door and opened it. To their surprise, it was a small office with a wooden desk, a cassette tape, several dressers, chairs and a bed.

"What is this?" said Barrett, looking around.

"Hold on," said Tuesday, heading towards the desk.

She pressed 'play' on the tape.

"_Is this thing on?_" said a voice from the tape. "_Damn it. Funny that this thing is lying around here…OK. It IS on. Maybe I should start talking. OK then. This is Mitchell here and this is Log #3 on 22nd of July! My life's work is almost complete! I got to thank Tuesday for this. I studied ALL religious AND black magic stuff in the universe, so I'm ready! I created a special pentagram, so that I can become powerful! Anyway, after spending DAYS of perfecting my rituals, I'm happy to say that I finally made one that can bring someone back from the dead! For this, I have to sacrifice a living animal, so I decided to use a mouse. I have chosen a person I wanted to bring back from the dead, so here it goes! Hear it!_"

The tape was silent for a while before the voice began to say a weird chant, somewhat Latin.

"What the…?" said Tuesday.

Quill cooed in curiosity.

"Mitchell…" said Barrett. "Him?"

"No wonder why he was missing a few times during the summer," said Tuesday. "He is always an oddball. Through and through. And did he just said that he needs to thank…me?"

As they heard the chant, a weird wet noise could be heard. It sounded as if…water was rising. And then, there was a splash.

"**_Gah!_**" said another voice. "**_What happened? Did Bendy saved me?_**"

Tuesday pressed the skip button to listen to the next log.

"_15th of June,_" said the next log. "_This is AWESOME! Using the same ritual, I can bring back the dead from their grave! So far, I revived almost HALF of the victims from the Joey Drew Studios. There is a side effect that they are still ink monsters, but don't worry. I have them locked in cages, but that weird tall ink monster wearing a mask followed me. I made another ritual, but this one is very difficult to do. This one is SUPERNATURAL. All I need is to find a human host and then we can start the ULTIMATE RITUAL!_"

Mitchell started laughing like mad. Barrett was disturbed.

"Maybe we shouldn't listen to this," said Barrett.

"We should," said Tuesday. "We wouldn't listen to it if it just talks about greenery, work production or some s**t, but the fact that this tape gives out NO normal circumstances, it seems...fishy."

She pressed the next log.

"_YES! YES! YES! I found someone! His name is Hawk Tiffany. I convinced him to come over to the warehouse and I knocked him out. Now, I have to get him ready to start the ritual. This will be successful! I think it's time to take this to the next level! I will add in another request to the ritual, so that I can become invincible._"

Tuesday's face went pale.

"Mr Tiffany…" she said.

She pressed the next log. This one was…terrifying.

"_Oh god no!_" said a man's voice. "_No, no, no, no, no! Please! Give me mercy! I don't want to die! I have a family!_"

"**_I'm sorry about that,_**" said another voice. "**_But you have to leave behind your family to bless the lord._**"

"_P-please! No! No!_"

"**_Don't worry. Once he sacrifice yourself, you will be free from your life, little sheep._**"

"_NOOOOOOOOOOO!_"

Nobody needed to know what was heard on the tape. There was a mixture of screaming, light flashing and limbs torn apart. And then…the sound of silence played through the air.

Barrett and Tuesday were shocked.

Quill was about to cry, but continue to suck on his pacifier. The noises from the tape were too scary for him.

Tuesday pressed the next log.

"**_AH HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA! I did it! I am the most powerful god in the universe! I am the MIGHTY MYKRYLAIS! Mitchell is no more! I killed him! I killed him and drown out his screams! That wimp is NO MORE! His blood will now run all over the place! All I need to do is to get an UNLIMITED NUMBER OF MONSTERS that will obey under my rule! The Ink Machine is here! I want it! I need it! I will take it away from those dirty humans! I will be unstoppable! I will be invincible! I will be powerful! I DON'T NEED ANYONE ELSE! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_**"

And at this, the tape exploded. It burst, leaving a lot of black smoke.

Scared out of his mind, Quill burst into tears, dropping his pacifier. Tuesday quickly grabbed it and placed it back into the baby's mouth. The young girl stroke her baby brother in warm comfort.

Barrett's mouth was opened. What? Mitchell? He…he was…

"Mitchell," gasped Barrett.

Tuesday's mouth twitched. "I-I-I…"

Tears were forming in Barrett's eyes.

"A-and yet," whispered Barrett. "I…I…I wasn't able to say…sorry…"

Tuesday was confused. "W-what do you mean?"

All of a sudden, the lights went out.

"W-what?" said Barrett.

And the lights came back.

Barrett and Tuesday heard heavy breathing behind them. Barratt wiped his tears away and looked behind along with Tuesday.

It was Beast Bendy.

It was…grinning.

"Um…" said Tuesday nervously. "Nice muscles?"

"**ThAnK yOu,**" said Beast Bendy.

And then, the large beast whacked Barrett hardly.

The last thing Barrett remembered was Tuesday yelling his name before he blacked out.

* * *

**AN: Oh no...something happened to Barrett! Want to know what happened? Find out in the next chapter!**

**At the start of the chapter, Henry's prejudice against gods can be seen. I decided to give him this character since he went through the haunted studio before. I was thinking about how he would think about the crazy rituals and pentagrams that were set in the studio back before, so I gave him a burning hatred of Gods because people might follow them for the wrong reasons. Fortunately, he seems to drop that act when Liam reveals himself to be a Christian. Just to note to not judge other beliefs or religions and respect one another please.**

**And oh, the scene where that crazy hobo tries to get onto the bus was based on SMG4's '_Road Trip_'. Go check that video out.**

**[1] For safety reasons, PLEASE don't look up those categories and watch them. They may be too inappropriate and can twist the mind!**

**Wow, this chapter is pretty dark. But things would get serious in the next chapter, so you have been warned!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you enjoy this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of the chapter: What do you think happened to Mitchell? Do you think he is alive or dead?**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	8. 7 - What Are You Hiding?

**AN: Here is the next chapter. This one has the final background of Liam's life. Make sure to have a tissue box next to you just in case. It gets a bit darker in this chapter.**

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**Chapter 7 – What Are You Hiding?**

**Elena's POV (at 1 pm)**

"This IS taking too long," grumbled Spider. "Are we close?"

"Uh…we just reached the halfway point," said Draco, checking the map.

"What?!"

"Sorry. I'm telling you. It's a long way to get to San Francisco by foot."

"LONG WAY?! Are you REALLY sure THIS is the 'way' to San Francisco because it seems like we are walking AWAY from San Francisco!"

"You're just overreacting."

Spider was in a bad shape; his clothes were stained in sweat, his dark eyes were duller than before and his hair was slightly disheveled. I had never seen him like THIS before, so it felt foreign to see Spider so…so…so tired.

Nearly everyone was tired. Draco still kept up the pace, determined to get to San Francisco no matter what. Even Laura kept walking, with no sweat dripping down her face or hair. In fact, those two looked fresh despite the long walk.

I was nearly tired and my feet were hurting, but I still walked on. I didn't complain about the long walk because I used to go on long hikes before…when I was…with my parents.

Bendy didn't walk; he just sat on anyone's shoulders, whenever he felt like to. He was constantly humming and whipping his tail around, annoying a few people.

Jace was holding Lucy's hand. The two were tired, but I noticed that the two were looking at each other. They would sometimes look at each other and gave short kisses. I got to say; they looked like a good couple.

Like Spider, Sven was tired. He was panting hardly and took many sips from his water bottle. He took many gulps of water.

"Careful on them," said Draco. "We don't want to waste our supplies."

"I know," said Sven, stopping for a break. "It's just that it is so hard to keep going."

Both Alissa and Damien looked exhausted from the walk. Even though they shared the same stoic looks, they had sweat dripping from their faces. The fact their legs were trembling gave out that it looked like they were about to collapse.

Pitbull followed behind me. He looked fine, even though there was sweat going down his near-naked body. Every time I stopped, Pitbull would slightly tapped on my shoulder for me to get up.

"I'm OK," I said. "I'm just fine."

Pitbull had a meaningful look. I sighed and accepted his support.

To my surprise, Clyde was one who didn't complain about the walk. Apparently, he sneaked in ten apple juice bottles and was listening to music on his phone using his headphones. He sweated a little, but he was…smiling.

And oh, the streak on his hair became white for some reason.

We were walking across the road for hours. We all drank our water and ate some snacks to fill us up. Some of the others were trudging slowly, causing Pitbull to come to them and get them up. The sun was unforgivable as it made the entire world hot. The harsh warm wind roared against us.

We didn't bump into any ink monsters so far. I was wondering if they were going to jump at us. Honestly, I was grateful they didn't, but it was strange that we didn't bump into any so far.

There was little talk except for the giggles from Jace and Lucy, and the complaints from Spider. We were all too tired to talk. We only had the energy to walk.

"ARGH!" exclaimed Spider, burned out. "I can't take this anymore!"

Spider collapsed onto the floor face-first. Laura stopped and went to see if Spider was alright. The multi-colored boy only let out a moan.

"OK then," said Draco, rubbing his eyebrow. "Let's take a lunch break. We need to conserve our energy if we used them up."

At the sound of this, Lucy, Sven, Damien and Alissa sat down, worn out. I remained standing.

Bendy lied on my shoulders. "That was a good walk!"

"That's because all you did was lie down on everyone," I said.

Clyde took another sip from his juice bottle. "Not gonna lie, mate…it's a lot more fun than I thought it would be."

"Really?" said Alissa.

"I'm sorry. Guess I got carried away with the music."

As we all got out something to eat, Spider scooted next to me.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," I said back quietly.

I realized that I was kind of being comfortable next to him. I hesitantly grabbed my glasses and pulled them up, revealing my silver eyes.

"Hey," he said smiling. "Don't be scared. What's the matter?"

I quickly shook my head and took my shades off. "S-sorry. It's just that…I-I can be a bit nervous when…showing my true eyes."

Spider just smiled before gently touched my chin. "I think your eyes look beautiful."

At this, I would have yelled at him to stop touching me, but I didn't want to be mean. Besides, I noticed that…his expression softened. His eyes were dreamy and somewhat in awe. I could see the compassionate and dreamy look in his beautiful dark eyes…

Wait, what?

Anyway, I saw that…he was blushing. I blushed.

I decided to play nice.

"Don't make me blush," I said, gently taking his hand off my face. "Don't make US blush. Seriously…DON'T."

Spider chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"I still have a few questions," he said.

I gulped. "What?"

"First thing…why…?"

He paused. There was a guilty look in his eyes.

"Why do you hate boys that much?"

My jaw gaped. "W-What?"

"It's…it's kind of noticeable."

I stayed quiet. Spider had a point. I was uncomfortable around boys. Either he seen it or not, I was ALWAYS uncomfortable when meeting boys for the first time.

I remembered of how reluctant I was towards Bendy. I thought at first he was just a nasty person, but I started to slowly see Bendy more as a good person, despite being annoyed by his antics. I hadn't talk with him that much, but he was a supportive person.

I remembered how uncomfortable I was when meeting Spider for the first time. I found Spider dorky and silly, but…for some reason…please don't laugh…I thought that I…had a liking for him.

Jace seemed arrogant, but he seemed to be protective of others, including when around Lucy. Clyde wasn't a bad person; just sarcastic and serious, and rather focus on mind than body.

Also, I was intimidated by the Black Skulls, but after they helped us, I saw them in a new light. In addition, Draco told me his story of fighting for achievements.

I didn't know how to answer Spider's question. Because the boys I just met for the first few days were kind and smart, I felt as if MY opinion about boys would be hurtful to others. The words felt heavy to me as I remembered the encounters I had with bad boys in the past.

I took a deep breath.

My mind was filled with awful memories. I whimpered, but I felt Spider's hand held onto mine. He looked at me.

"You don't have to say it," said Spider. "I understand if you're uncomfortable."

But to my surprise, Spider by my side, I felt COMFORTABLE. Those memories still flashed in front of my eyes, but I calmed down from my near panic.

"It's just that…" I said. "…it's just that…I don't find boys TRUST-ABLE. Before I came to Brooklyn, I had been around with liars, crooks, thieves, perverts, bullies and horrible people for the entire filling of a wedding cake. And the cherry on top, I never see boys in a good light. They…they treated me badly…"

Spider's eyes widened in fear. "In what way?"

"…should I say it to you or…?"

His eyes narrowed. "You…you were RAPED?!"

I quickly put my finger onto his mouth, but it was a bit too late. Good thing that nobody heard that.

"Not that!" I pointed out. "That I was able to avoid. Maybe…maybe some boys – a three or ten – would…sexually…abuse me. They didn't go further like dragging me to their house or strip clothes off…but…it's more than enough."

Spider gritted his teeth. "Bloody bastards."

He shook his head. "I…I see what you mean. It's because boys you met are into sex, huh?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

Spider blushed a bit, but rolled his eyes. "Sort of, but I never dream of grabbing a girl and seduce her in a toilet stall. Besides, I think it would feel a bit weird doing a…sexual…intercourse…I don't know how the hell that works. And believe me; I never dream of taking drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. And if you saw that waifu pillow I had in my room, that's because a friend gave it to me as a 'gift'. I meant to throw that piece of s*** away, but I kind of forgot about it." **[1]**

I was quite shocked of Spider's answer to my short question. It sounded so genuine. I wasn't sure if he was lying, but…I sighed in relief that he wasn't a bad guy.

One thing that surprised me more?

That body pillow.

"No wonder why you have suck a messy room…" I said.

Spider giggled sheepishly. "Yeah…my brother would always say that to me."

I chuckled a bit, smiling for once. However, my smile faded as I looked down. "Anyway because of my experiences near boys…I…can get nervous. The sad thing is how I'm acting towards to you guys is like doing segregation or discrimination. I'm…always paranoid when around boys…but now-"

"You started to trust us more," said Spider.

I looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

"Like I said; you started to trust us more. See? Remember what I told you? You are already away from whoever those bastards or sluts from your old home. Even though we are heading to San Francisco, Brooklyn is not just a place. It's a community. It's a family. And this one whole group is a family."

I nodded. "You are right."

"So you don't need to worry," said Spider, holding onto my shoulders. "You're not alone in this. And I'm happy that you finally told me the truth."

"Not really."

"OK yeah, half of it, but it's a good thing for you to open up your feelings."

I smiled. "Yeah…speaking of which, you sounded a bit angry when I mentioned that I was treated wrongly. Why's that?"

Spider sighed. "It's a long story."

"Then I bet you 5 dollars that it's not bad."

Spider laughed a bit and took out his wallet.

"No, no, no," I said blushing. "That was a joke."

"Well," said Spider. "The reason I-"

"Eh…guys?" said Bendy. "What's that?"

We all looked at where Bendy was pointing. On the road was a shadowy figure. It was far away from us and it was…coming towards us. A distant roar could be heard from the figure.

"What the hell?" said Laura.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"Oh no…" said Alissa.

"Is it bad?" asked Draco.

"An 'oh no'? That's DEFINITELY a bad. Duh."

"What is it there?" said Damien.

Jace trembled in fear. "I-it's the monster!"

"What?" said Laura.

"It's the monster! The Ink Monsters! They are going to get us!"

True to his word, a loud roar could be heard from the figure. At that moment, the shadowy figure became much clearer. It was a black bus, slightly covered in ink. And there was a dark shadow driving the bus.

"Oh no," I said.

"Wait a minute," said Laura. She put on her glasses to see clearly. "Hold on…it's a…"

At that moment, Sven cocked his rifle and unlocked the safety button.

"A rifle?" said Laura in disgust, grabbing the rifle. "Good Lord, THAT DRIVER doesn't seem to be an ink monster there! Let's just-"

Spider grabbed the rifle. "But it IS an ink monster! If it wasn't for the roar, then we wouldn't know! Let the Mighty Spider do the job. He can take down that beast."

"Oh boy…" I said as I put my sunglasses back on.

We all stood in fear as we saw the bus getting closer and closer. Spider slowly raised the rifle and suddenly pulled the trigger.

POW! POW! POW!

Three times.

To my surprise, whoever was driving that bus let out a short cry and fell down. The bus screeched to a stop as the driver was shot down.

"Did I get a head-shot?" said Spider.

"Only one way to find out," said Draco, walking towards the bus.

Bendy held onto my hand.

"I don't like the sound of this," he said.

"Me too," I said.

We walked nervously to the bus. Everyone had an anxious look on their faces. Nobody made a sound except for Lucy who was whimpering and holding onto Jace. When we got close to the bus, Pitbull kicked the door opened.

What we saw was horrifying.

Lying on the ground was a man with brown skin and was wearing some kind of foreign dark military clothes. The scariest thing was that the man had three bullet-sized holes through his chest, blood dripping out. His eyes were opened, yet not moving. He was…barely breathing.

"You didn't get a head-shot, Spider," said Sven dumbly.

My eyes widened. Something flashed in front of my eyes.

I was back in my old home. I was in my room when I heard yelling and then…

POW! POW! POW!

Many gunshots. It was silence…and then…

POW!

I went out of my room to see what was going on. I froze and dropped my water bottle in fear.

Two people were lying on the floor.

With bullet holes in their chests.

I was taken back to the present when Bendy nudged me.

"Uh…Elena?" he asked.

I quickly shook my head. "Huh?"

"Are you-?"

"I-I…" stuttered Spider. "I…I…"

He couldn't speak. Everyone's eyes peered at the now-dead body to Spider. He slowly looked at the body in horror. He was trembling, his eyes were wavering and his shoulders were shaking.

"Wait…" said Draco.

He calmly bent down to inspect the man's head. His golden eyes met the lifeless green eyes.

Draco gasped.

"What…is it?" said Alissa.

"It's…" said Draco, his face turning pale. "It's one of those terrorists. I remember now. That was one of the terrorists who did the massacre at that mall years ago!"

"W-what?" said Damien.

Draco looked up. There were a lot of illegal weapons and dangerous supplies on the seats.

"He was just driving over…transporting these…I don't know if they were stolen or not, but…" said Draco, trailing off.

"…how come he isn't an ink monster?" said Lucy.

Spider's eyes still remained on the body. He tried to crack a smile.

"Well…eh…" he said, awkwardly grinning. "The…the…the…Mighty Spider…just killed…a terrorist…that was on the run…for years…my first…heroic…act…it is good or not…"

He stared at us, trying to see how we would respond to this. To me, I was baffled. Spider just blindly killed a person who turned out to be a criminal. I didn't know much of the law, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to kill a person out of fear.

Besides, I felt sorry for Spider. He looked…scared.

"At least one of the terrorists is dead," said Draco with hostility in his voice towards the dead body.

"That's a bit too risky," said Laura, shaking her head. "I tried to tell you, people!"

"I don't think it's a good idea to shoot down a person," said Lucy, holding onto Jace for protection.

"I think this is fine," said Jace shrugging. "Good riddance to rubbish I would say."

"I wish I was the one who shot that criminal," said Sven jealously.

Pitbull didn't say anything.

"Well…that's would be what I want to do with the people I hate," said Alissa flatly.

Damien sighed. "I don't think it would be fair to kill someone like that."

"But those terrorists hurt you," pointed out Spider angrily.

Damien nodded grimly. "True…but it isn't right."

"I don't know how to say this," said Clyde worriedly. "Let's just pretend that we didn't kill that guy."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Spider looked at me.

"Uh…" I said. "First, we need to get rid of the body. Second, let's settle down and next time, we will look before we leap."

Spider nodded.

"At least nobody has to worry about this bastard anymore," said Bendy, kicking the dead body's head. "The real question is; why is he on his own? Aren't terrorists supposed to go in groups?"

As if to answer, a loud beep could be heard from the distance. We looked through the window to see two black trucks coming towards us from the distance.

"Uh oh…" said Bendy.

"Great analogy, Bendy," said Alissa sarcastically. "Just great."

"How am I supposed to know that THEY are coming?"

The roar of those trucks were getting louder.

"OK," said Draco. "Time to go."

At this, Bendy threw the body out of the bus.

"Why did you do that?" hissed Laura.

"Just to get rid of the garbage," said Bendy bluntly. "Like Jace said; 'good riddance to rubbish'."

"Hide," said Draco.

We all ducked down and hid behind the seats, so that we couldn't be seen through the windows.

The trucks came to a stop upon seeing the bus.

"What the-?" said one of the terrorists.

"What's going on there?!" said another terrorists.

Those terrorists came out from their vehicles. They came close to the bus and spotted the body.

"Oh my…" said the first terrorist.

The second terrorist was seething. "Find out what's going on."

They tried to open the door, but Bendy had already locked it. The terrorists were looking through the windows. We quickly hid under the seats, away from those mercenaries' sights.

None of us made a single sound. We all held onto our breaths. I noticed the scared looks on everyone's faces.

We were still young. We couldn't fight THOSE guys. If we were caught, we would all die. And the chance that the terrorists would show mercy was slim.

Suddenly, Jace started to cough violently.

The terrorists heard that.

"Who's in there?!" one of them barked.

At this, that man fired his gun. Five rounds of bullets destroyed two windows, leaving them opened to the outside.

"Jace!" hissed Damien. "Shut it!"

"Sorry…" whispered Jace. "I'm not feeling well."

"We're all gonna die…" whimpered Lucy.

I looked at Spider. Spider looked like a small mouse. Then, a change passed over his face – a look of cold determination.

When the terrorists looked away from the windows, Spider got out from his hiding spot and crept slowly to the supplies on one of the seats.

"What are you doing?!" hissed Jace. "Get down!"

"Sorry," said Spider, digging inside one of the weapon boxes. "I have to do this."

"Get under the seats RIGHT NOW! That's an order."

"Yeah…and this is me breaking it!"

At this, Spider pulled out a GRENADE. He pulled the trigger and threw it through the hole of the broken window. It went soaring through the air and landed outside.

For a while, it was all quiet.

One gunman spotted the grenade. "What the-?!"

BOOM!

"NOW!" exclaimed Spider.

He let out a silly scream – the sound of a retarded crow – and went running towards the driver's seat. He got in and pressed the pedals. Since the bus was already on, it drove off in a jiffy.

The rest of us who were still hiding under the seats were thrown back unexpectedly. Unfortunately for Bendy, since the demon was small, he went flying out from his hiding spot and banged his head into the wall.

"YAH!" he screamed.

"What the hell?!" screamed Laura as we all got out from our hiding spot.

"Language…" muttered Bendy, stars dancing around his head.

I looked behind to see through the back window. The terrorists were stunned by the explosion and upon seeing Spider, they realized that we were on the bus AND were the ones responsible for that dead guy's death.

"OI!" one terrorists screamed in a strong Jamaican accent. "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!"

"Oh dear God," I said.

Draco was fuming. "Why did you do that, Spider?! Now we're spotted!"

"Don't worry!" said Spider, steering the bus. "The Mighty Spider got this!"

"Stop making monologues, dude! They aren't going to help you that much!"

"What does this red button do?"

"Don't even think about that!"

"WATCH OUT!" screamed Laura.

In front of us was a speeding car, this time filled with terrorists. One of them had his body through the ceiling hole, shooting with a gun. The bullets would have hit us, but Spider quickly drove out of the way, dodging the bullets.

And then…

CRASH!

The bus smashed into the car. We were fine. The terrorists couldn't say the same for themselves. As soon as the car was hit, it went spinning before it stopped; a large trail of smoke coming out from the hood.

Spider stopped the bus.

"A-are they dead?" said Alissa, expecting if those gunmen would come out of the car.

"Not yet," said Sven.

At this, Jace took a box of TNT, opened the back door and THREW IT AT THE CAR.

As soon as the box came into contact with the burning engine…well, the expected happened.

BOOM!

The car blown up into smithereens. Red and orange flames flew up towards the sky as close as possible. Nothing survived from that explosion except for ashes.

We all looked at the explosion, speechless.

"NOW they're dead!" said Jace smiling.

"Oh yeah!" said Spider, pumping his fist into the air. "Give me one!"

Jace ran up and he fist-bumped Spider. At this, the latter put the medal to the pedal. The bus drove off, leaving dust behind in its tracks. Again, we had to hang on and took our seats. Luckily, there were seat-belts for us to use. Jace and Draco were still standing; the former standing near Spider who was driving and the latter stood in his spot, shocked.

"Phew!" said Jace. "That was close."

Draco's face turned red. He stomped towards Jace and Spider.

"VENUS HEIST!" he screamed. "Have you lost your mind?!"

"What do you mean?" asked Spider dumbly.

"You two killed those terrorists!"

"So?" said Jace annoyed. "They deserve it. A better fate then turning into an ink monster. They are stupid."

"Maybe…BUT YOU TWO ARE!"

"For God's sake. What are you trying to say?"

Draco gritted his teeth. "I'm saying that we are now targets for the terrorists!"

A glass shatter could be heard.

"What?" said Spider.

"Haven't you heard of 'group loyalty?" growled Draco. "Those terrorists won't take it nice when one of their members get injured. They would try to avenge their fallen ones by killing the person responsible for that murder. Since YOU TWO killed a portion of those terrorists, ALL OF US are doomed!"

"Geez," said Jace. "Just take a chill pill, dude."

"Yeah," said Spider in pride. "It's OK. We are safe now. The Mighty Spider managed to get us out of this mess. If it wasn't for me for killing that guy, threw the grenade AND stole their bus, we would all die. And give credit to Jace for taking out those guys before. That explosion would give us time to escape and distract the terrorists for long. It's not like they are coming to get us now. Now where is our 'thank you'?"

On the spur of the moment, gunfire could be heard. Foreign yelling wasn't far from us. The roar of more vehicles was unmistakable.

Draco's eyes widened when he heard that before he narrowed his eyes at Spider. "Thank you for making us 'the next victims for the world's greatest terrorists', you b***h."

Spider mistaken the offense as a praise. "Why you're welcome, Dracula-"

Jace looked behind. "Oh no…"

"Huh?"

We all looked behind.

"Ah f***," soughed Spider.

To my horror, there was a LARGE group of black vehicles chasing us. Compared to the bus we were on, those vehicles looked tougher and mean. They had man dressed in foreign military clothes, popping their bodies out the windows and shot using their guns. The bullets hit the back of the bus, but luckily not the window.

"OH MY GOSH!" said Jace, his eyes widening. "We are so screwed!"

"THEY ARE COMING TO GET US!" screamed Bendy.

Draco took a huge swing to Spider's head. "You dullard! You absolute dullard! Now we're in trouble!"

Spider just rolled his eyes playfully. "Don't worry, guys! The Mighty Spider will get us out of this! I'm the best driver out from everyone else! I played 'Mario Kart' and 'Pokemon Go!' every day. I got this!"

At this, Spider took a turn to the right. The terrorists were catching up to us.

"SHOOT FOR THE WHEELS!" yelled one terrorist from a car.

They started to shoot at the tires. However, Spider managed to dodge the bullets from hitting the rubber tires.

"TOKYO DRIFT!" yelled Spider.

At this, Spider started to do epic burn-outs. He drifted to the right, evading from the bullets. And then…he did this;

"YOLOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed.

I screamed, holding onto my seat. Spider managed to get the bus driving on the TWO FRONT WHEELS. The bullets missed again.

Eventually, one terrorist vehicles caught up to us. A man popped out from his window and pointed his gun at us.

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" he shouted.

"Oh god, no," I said.

"This is the end," said Bendy.

"What are we going to do?" said Jace.

"SUCK MY LONG SPAGHETTI NOODLE!" sneered Spider, pointing his middle finger at the terrorist.

At this, he flipped the wheel, steering the bus close to the vehicle. When they crashed into each other, the terrorist vehicle spun out of control, coming to a stop. Worse luck, at least 5 speeding vehicles crashed into that dazed vehicles, resulting in an explosion.

BOOM!

"YEAH!" whooped Spider. "70 POINTS TO ROCKETON, MOTHERF***ERS!"

"HOLY S***!" yelled Draco panicking. "This is getting too far! Just avoid them!"

"But this is fun!"

I caught a glimpse in Spider's dark grey eyes. They were nearly mad, bolting and filled with excitement. It appeared that he was enjoying taking control of the wheel. The once innocent look on his face seemed to disappear as if the word 'mercy' meant nothing to him. He wasn't a mad killer, but since we were facing TERRORISTS, he seemed to think that it was alright to kill them. A part of me thought that the terrorists deserved to be killed because they hurt a lot of people. Those terrorists deserved to die because of their wrong beliefs of hurting remote people. But the fact that Spider was intending to kill them was scaring me.

After a full three minutes of trying to get away from the terrorists, we came across a circular road junction. It was one of those roads that was connected to four different places. Since we were on the south road, we needed to get to the north road; the way to San Francisco.

Spider drove the bus onto the right. One of the vehicles chased after us while the other drove to the left to block us on the other side. Spider saw this and had an idea.

"Hold on, everyone!" he said. "This one is going to AWESOME!"

"WHAT?!" screamed Clyde.

Spider managed to get to the north road, but the other vehicles blocked us. All of us screamed when it appeared that Spider was going to CRASH into that vehicle…

…everything went into slow motion…

…and just an INCH away from the front vehicles, Spider drifted the bus to the right, avoiding a car crash AND getting us to the north road.

I looked behind and saw the back vehicle collided with the front vehicle. The impact was effective.

BOOM!

"20 MORE POINTS TO THE KID BACK HOME!" barked Spider at the top of his lungs.

"OH MY GOSH!" howled Jace. "YOU'RE A PSYCHO IN THESE KIND OF THINGS! I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE!"

Jace grabbed onto the wheel, trying to take control. Spider tried to pull the wheel away from him, but Jace attempted to rip the multi-colored haired boy's fingers away from the wheel.

"GIVE ME THE DAMN WHEEL!" screamed Jace in a mixture of aggravation and alarm.

"HEY!" exclaimed Spider. "I'M driving it."

"NO WAY! YOU'RE GONNA GET US KILLED!"

"JUST CHILL AND LET ME DRIVE!"

"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!"

"FOR ONCE, LET ME DO THIS THING!"

"I SWEAR TO HELL I DIDN'T LOSE MY LAST BET JUST TO DIE!"

"WATCH OUT!" screamed Sven.

Because Jace and Spider were too busy fighting over the wheel, they didn't notice that their actions caused the bus to DRIVE ONTO THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. It went left and came CRASHING INTO THE FOREST.

To everyone's surprise, the bus SMASHED through the trees, receiving no damage to the engine. It zoomed through the thick but fragile trees with ease. The wooden stump of the trees broke apart. Green leaves were pulled out from their branches and ran over by the wheels. And I feared that the bus accidentally drove over CRITTERS as I thought I heard squeaking sounds under the bus.

"YOU TWO!" begged Lucy to Spider and Jace. "Please stop fighting!"

Jace managed to wrench Spider out from the driver's seat.

"I'LL DRIVE!" he yelled.

"WATCH OUT FOR THE TREE!" yelled Laura.

"What tr-?"

WHAM!

The bus narrowly hit a tree – this one was gigantic compared to the other small trees – scratching the right side of it. We didn't crash, but this caused the bus to go into a different direction. As soon as the bus hit the tree, inertia kicked in and my face went flying towards the window.

SMASH!

It was brief, but my head slammed into the window before bouncing back. My vision went blurry and my head was spinning.

"Are you OK?" asked Damien.

"I'm…" I said, trying to concentrate. "I'm…I'm alright."

I rubbed my eyes…and froze.

My sunglasses were off.

"WHAT?!" I said.

I looked around.

"Where are my shades?!" I said.

I gasped when I saw my sunglasses sliding onto the floor. I bit my lip.

Jace was driving, but since he didn't notice the tree, the bus was out of control. And if the problem wasn't bad enough, the bus was heading to a CLIFF.

"TURN!" screamed Alissa. "TURN THE DAMN BUS!"

"I'm trying!" said Jace, struggling to turn the wheel.

Too late.

The bus went flying into the air as it fell off the cliff. Unlike last time, this one was TERRIFYING. Everyone was screaming as we all held onto our seats in a bracing position. I just hung onto my seat and closed my eyes. This wasn't going well.

WHOMP!

The bus landed onto the ground below…on all four wheels. We were alright.

Sort of.

"Why can't we have a softer landing?" groaned Damien.

I found myself lying on the floor. I slowly got up, groaning in pain. My head was still dizzy, but I could still see. I looked at the scene. Bendy was helping Laura get up. Lucy was crying, holding onto her nose which was bleeding from the holes. Jace came over to her to comfort her. Clyde's and Damien's hair were messy compared to their naturally well-groomed hair. Draco and Sven had matching black eyes. Alissa was checking on a shocked Spider who was on the floor.

Pitbull went up to me.

"I'm OK," I said, waving my hand.

There was one thing I was hoping that was OK.

I looked around, looking for my sunglasses. I wanted my sunglasses. I NEEDED my sunglasses. Not only it covered my eyes, but it was the only remaining thing I had from my mum.

"F***," I swore.

"Language…" slurred Bendy.

I looked over to see Spider getting up. He held onto his head in pain.

"So…" he said, trying to crack a smile. "What was my score…?"

"Spider…" growled Jace. "I am SO close to strangling you…"

I gasped.

Spider looked at me. "What?"

But I wasn't looking at him. I was looking at what he SAT on.

My sunglasses.

My MUM'S sunglasses.

The lens were crooked.

One side of the glass was broken.

There were a few cracks, but a piece of the left black glass was shattered.

Everyone was quiet for some reason. Eyes were peered onto me and then the shades.

Everything went dark and cold for me. My heart was beating. Everything was silent. I slowly walked up to the broken shades. I slowly picked them up and examined them. It was still stable, but the glass was broken. Still, it was…fragile.

My eyes widened. Something flashed over my eyes.

It was…when I was back at my old home. When I was younger.

I was in a tug of war with a bunch of mean girls. They were trying to take away a golden trophy I got for the spelling bee. Because I was weak, those girls managed to pry the trophy away from me.

I yelled at them to give it back. They gave it back…but how?

By throwing it at my feet.

I watched in horror as they smashed onto my shoes. They exploded into a thousand golden fragments, never to be seen again.

My sunglasses broke were like how my FIRST and LAST award broke.

"E-Elena?" said Spider.

I slowly turned my gaze towards him.

"I-I-I…" he said with shaky shoulders. "I-I didn't…mean to…"

Something snapped inside my mind.

My eye twitched.

I grabbed the hood of Spider's jacket and punched him square in the face.

Everyone gasped.

I was too angry to care.

I placed my boot onto Spider's chest and was about to punch him again, when Draco quickly grabbed me by the arms and pulled me away. Jace helped Spider get up.

"E-Elena?" sputtered Spider. "Why did you do that for?"

"Just what the hell?" I said quietly.

"What?"

I gritted my teeth. "JUST WHAT THE HELL?!"

Silence.

"What the hell do you mean?" said Jace, hostility in his voice.

I ignored him. I shoved my sunglasses towards Spider's face.

"This…" I said, my hand shaking. "…this…you BROKE THEM."

"I-I…" said Spider, starting to hiccup. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! But at least the sunglasses aren't ENTIRELY damaged.

"THOSE SUNGLASSES ARE ALREADY DAMAGED!" I screamed.

"Crying out loud," said Jace. "It wasn't his fault! It was mine and I didn't notice what was going on."

"THEN MAYBE YOU COULD HAVE LOOK OUT WHERE YOU ARE GOING!" I yelled. "MAYBE YOU WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED US ALL!"

"It was chaos! There was nothing much we can do about that!"

"And those terrorists were chasing us," said Lucy.

At this, we heard the roar of those vehicles passing by. Since the bus landed in the forest, we were covered by the trees. Then, the terrorists were gone.

"We lost them for now," said Spider. "We are safe."

"Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" I growled, poking a finger into his chest. "If we just died there, it was ALL YOUR FAULT."

"OK," said Draco getting impatient. "What is this all about? Your concern for OUR SAFETY or YOUR SUNGLASSES?! They are just glasses!"

"OH SHUT IT, BLACK BOY!" I yelled, turning to him. "THOSE GLASSES BELONG TO MY MUM!"

"But they are just glasses," said Bendy. "You can buy another one."

"Oh, but do you know how F***ING IMPORTANT THEY MEAN TO ME?!" I swore.

"Geez! Language!"

"LANGUAGE YOURSELF, YOU DEMON! GO TO HELL FOR ALL I CARE!"

"Please stop!" said Lucy. "I'm sorry about your glasses, but you shouldn't act that way."

"OH BE QUIET!"

I made the mistake of slapping Lucy hard in the face. She started to cry. Jace ran to her side.

"Chill out, lady," said Sven. "Don't be such a jerk."

I was far from calming down. For some reason, my mind was starting to twist upon remembering all the bad times I went through before. Before I know it, I was letting out my bottled anger.

"OH, YOU SHUT UP!"

"Just what is wrong with you?!" complained Damien. "You don't have to be so mad at Spider for breaking your glasses. Things like that happen."

"But would YOU be mad at the murderer who KILLED YOUR PARENTS?!" I questioned.

"Oh," said Clyde, stomping his foot aggressively. "We can't be all perfect like you, can we? Or maybe as smart as you? Or have a nice arse like yours? Huh?!"

"SHUT IT, YOU FILTHY ASIAN!" I yelled. "You're the odd one out from this group and weren't you the one who makes insults about this group?!"

"Oh for crying out loud!" said Alissa, grabbing my necklace to pull me close to her face. "Maybe YOU are the one that did damage JUST NOW! You know what you can do; you can just shut your mouth, throw away your bulls*** and sit in that corner! The reason why you are acting like this now is because you are SO INSECURE!"

"Oh," I said, grabbing her collar. "I'm mad and NOW I'm insecure?!"

I raised my fist, but someone grabbed it.

It was Laura.

"Alissa," she said softly. "Let go…now."

Alissa hesitantly let go off my necklace.

"Elena…" said Laura in a low voice. "You…you went too far…"

I looked at her, remaining my glare.

"You…you agreed to help me. You agreed to help me find my father, rescue Spider's brother and stop that Ink Machine. But so far, all you did was say that negative talk, look down on others and overreacting with just only ONE THING. I know that Spider and Jace nearly killed us all, but what you are doing is UNACCEPTABLE. What do you care about? Do you care about any of us? Do you care about Henry? Do you care about Bendy? Do you care about the world? Or do you only care about yourself and your stupid sunglasses?!"

My anger dissipated. I never heard Laura this angry before. Normally, she was NEVER angry. She was positive and tried to keep our hopes high. But because of how I acted, she was…angry.

I looked around. Lucy was crying. Jace glared at me. Draco was nearly in tears. Damien was trembling. Clyde was breathing hardly. Alissa's mouth was twitching. Sven was cowering behind Pitbull. Spider was shaking badly. Bendy was just shocked.

I felt ashamed.

"L-Laura…" I struggled to say. "I-"

Laura didn't listen.

"OH SHUT UP!" she yelled. "I HAVE ENOUGH! YOUR ATTITUDE! YOUR PIECE OF CRAP! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS, FINE! RUN OFF! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! I'M DONE! I DON'T CARE HOW DAD WILL THINK ABOUT THIS! GO OFF AND DIE IN THE OCEAN FOR GOD'S SAKE! LEAVE! **I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE!**"

Silence filled the thick air. The place we were in turned into a dark place.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't blink.

"I am a **failure,**" I thought.

At this, I shook my head. I felt the urge to cry, but not in front of them. I started to back away.

"I…I…I see how this is," I said.

I finally turned my back and run. I slammed the back door opened and ran out into the forest.

I realized that I no longer had a place to call home.

* * *

**Bendy's POV**

OK. Honestly, I had no idea what happened. All I knew was Elena yelling all of us out of anger. And at that moment…

…she ran off.

I called for her, but she didn't hear me.

Laura looked like she didn't want to do this, but…she just did.

And she couldn't take it back.

She dropped to the floor, crying.

"Laura!" said Draco.

He and Alissa went to Laura, comforting her.

Spider nearly collapsed, but used the seats for support. Jace and Lucy went up to him.

"Damian," said Lucy, for once using his real name. "Are you…?"

She trailed off. Unable to hold it longer, Spider hugged Jace and Lucy, resting his head onto Jace's left shoulder.

He started to cry.

"I'm so sorry…" he kept whispering. "…I'm so sorry…"

Jace and Lucy had equal concerned looks as they comforted their friend.

Damien sat on a nearby seat. He was…trembling badly. His green eyes were shaking, nearly about to pop out from his eyeballs. Clyde went to him.

"A-Are you OK?" asked Clyde nervously.

Damien was trembling in emotion. He just placed his head into his hands…whimpering. Clyde sighed – unsure what to do – and placed his hand on Damien's shoulder.

Sven and Pitbull stood next to me.

"Oh my land…" said Sven shocked. "I can't believe this happened."

Pitbull nodded miserably.

"W…what are we going to do now?" I said.

"We can't go off yet," said Sven. "Not with Elena out in the open. We can't leave her."

I stayed silent. Something formed in my mind. It was risky, but it was a chance to get to know Elena better.

"I think there is one more person I need to ask if they are OK," I said.

* * *

**Third Person's POV, ?**

Henry, Liam and Harley couldn't believe what they saw.

The whole mine was…devastating.

It appeared that whoever wasn't turned into an ink monster was forced to work down…here.

Whoever did the whole ink invasion must be using those people as…slaves. It was wrong to treat them like that. They were just innocent people. They seemed to be treated as trash and seen as lower people. The saddest thing?

It was like going back to the dark ages.

Liam was angry.

Harley was upset.

Henry was trembling in mixed emotions.

Since they weren't wearing those prison uniforms, they had to hide from the guards. Luckily, the area they were in didn't have a lot of guards, making it easier for them to hide. They managed to hide in one of the spare prisoners' bunks, locking the door after stealing one of the miners' keys.

"This…this place is horrible," said Harley.

"Yeah," said Henry. "And yet, I thought discrimination and social classes are over."

"I have a feeling that whoever is behind all of this is also did this to those people," said Liam. "That mastermind…is…a monster."

Henry sighed. "We came here to look for the battery and we have a number of guards out there. If something happens to those slaves…we need to act fast."

"Agreed," said Harley. "But how?"

"I don't know. We need to know where that battery is."

"Uh…Henry?" said Liam.

Henry looked at Liam. "Yes."

"I suppose that…maybe it's time I tell you the last part of my story."

"I'm not sure about that. Time is against us and we need to-"

"Better do it now before we all die."

Harley was a bit surprised. "Liam…"

"You know what," said Henry, heading towards the door. "Let's just find-"

"Let him talk. Let him talk. I think…it's best for you to know."

Henry saw the painful expression on Harley's face.

"What's wrong, Harley?" asked Henry.

Harley was silent for a while. "Listen…after…after Liam's and Mitchell's parents disappeared, Hawk and I…took care of them."

Henry nodded. "No wonder why Liam sticks with you."

"Heh," scoffed Liam. "I thought you thought she was my teacher."

"Well it seemed to be at first."

"It was…very hard," said Harley, looking down.

Liam sighed. "Let me explain the whole thing to you, Henry. Harley isn't comfortable with telling the whole thing and I…I am brave enough to say it…"

* * *

**Liam's POV**

_After our parents went missing, Mitchell and I were on our own. I was concerned about our parents' safety. I was up all night, hoping that they would come back. I held onto the necklace I had. However, Mitchell seemed fine that we were all by ourselves. He seemed to…not care about our parents._

_The police heard about this and started looking for them. There were no clues of how they disappeared and no traces of them._

_Because we were very young during that time, we were sent to an orphanage. Immediately, we were chosen by Harley and Hawk Tiffany._

_Those two warmly welcomed me and I found myself into a new family. It was a bit weird at first since they had different traditions and cultures. Hey, I'm an American and Harley is an Indian, but I became used to these cultures. I was getting interested of their traditions, so I wanted to know more about the world._

_Sadly, Mitchell didn't take this well. Because we were different to our new adoptive parents, my brother was against the fact that we had new parents. He didn't seem to like being around adults. Also, he found their Indian traditions as 'offenses'. I remembered multiple times Mitchell would insult Harley and Hawk with racism comments or names._

_Now you see, Harley never got involved with Mitchell's behavior. Mitchell was mostly targeting Hawk. Those two…were always on each other's throats. Harley was REALLY upset by this. To my dismay, I realized how distant I became with Mitchell. I didn't have the courage to talk to him nor smile at him. I was scared of him because of what he did to Ruby._

_At first, we lived in San Francisco. That was where I met this girl named Tuesday at a school…or more like a school hybrid because it was also a boarding school. She noticed how I was struggling with keeping my brother well-mannered. As a suggestion, she told both of us that we should try to turn to faith, like how some of her friends did. Go to church to pray and praise the Lord. She said that as long as I believed in God, then maybe our lives would change for the best._

_I took her advice and that was when I became a believer of God. I saw that his nature is good and kind. I prayed, sang worship songs – either classical or pop – and read the bible. To my surprise, I felt as if I was at ease. I felt as if all my problems were solved. My sins were washed away. As if I was dipped into holy water._

_For Mitchell? Well…his experience in 'faith' was…uncanny. As soon as he finished reading the bible (well, both of us finished it in two weeks), he went onto looking up other religion. He was looking up on Greek gods, Egyptian gods, you name it. Any kind of god you can name. And then, he started to act…weird. He would sometimes muttered to himself saying that we should 'appease the gods'. He would say something foreign._

_One day, I saw him making some kind of offering. A ritual. He had a desk with a painting of a god. There were baskets of bread and candles surrounding him. He was singing a song in Latin and I knew that it wasn't on the charts._

_It was…unsettling._

_Just before our 15th_ _birthday, Harley and Hawk came up with the news that we were moving to Brooklyn. I wasn't happy hearing this because I wasn't ready to move to another school which might be hell again. Despite my protests, we moved to Brooklyn._

_We started school on the first day of the year (which is in January/February, not in September…if you know what I mean). I was nervous. We headed over to the morning assembly. There was a special performance happening there. Mitchell got interested._

_The lights dimmed and the curtains slid open to reveal the stage. A loud Broadway-like music played as spotlights turned on to the rhythm. There – standing on a podium with stairs that lead downwards to the stage was Damian Rocketon…or called Spider to be exact. He looked to be around our age, had dark grey eyes, blue hair combed backwards and wore a black jacket with a spider detail on it._

_He started singing this song called 'Jealous' and climbed down the podium. It was a somewhat calm dance song. Everyone was dancing along to this. I was…rather impressed. I didn't like the song though…because of the meaning._

_I saw how he danced, how he sang and how…this one is stupid. He was getting the attention from everyone._

_Even Mitchell was liking the performance. I noticed that there was this…sparkling look in his eyes. I wanted to ask him why he was acting that way, but I remained silent._

_Finally, the song ended. Everyone cheered at Spider bowed._

_I was speechless. Mitchell was…cheering as well._

_After the assembly, I made my way to Spider. Mitchell followed along because…he was my brother. I tapped on Spider's shoulder._

"_Oh," he said cheerfully. "Hi there!"_

"_Hi," I said._

"_You must be some of the new kids. You're new here?"_

_I nodded. "Well…your performance was…interesting."_

"_Why thank you!" said Spider gratefully._

_I was about to ask him a question about clubs when Mitchell interrupted me._

"_I'm pretty surprised that you got everyone down on their knees," said Mitchell. "Are you THAT popular?"_

_Spider grinned. "Well…yeah. Let's go with that."_

"_How can you act so well and get that much attention? Do you…fight many enemies or…kill criminals…or find a way to get girls?"_

_Spider blushed at this, but laughed it off. "Silly boy. There are a MILLION different ways to be cool…other than what you said. Remember, the Mighty Spider is the most powerful student of the world! And if you want to be as good as me, then you have to work hard."_

"_Hold on," I said. "Did you said 'Mighty Spider'?"_

"_That's what people call me!" he said proudly. "Why? Because I like spiders! Two, I like Spider-Man! Three, I am as tough and poisonous as a spider! I did many heroics that made me famous! Therefore, I am invici-!"_

"_SPIDER!" screamed a voice. "I'M GOING TO STRANGLE YOU!"_

_Spider sweat-dropped. "Oops. Forgot about the prank."_

_WHACK!_

"_ARGH!"_

"_TWO pranks…" said Spider sheepishly. "I got to go. But if you want to be uh…this strong, I'm happy to show you how."_

_Mitchell giggled at this. "Heh. Thanks."_

_That was when a dark brown-skinned girl appeared around the corner. She was covered in egg yolk and white powder._

"_YOU GET BACK HERE, RIGHT NOW!" she screamed._

"_See ya!" said Spider to us before running off._

_Mitchell and I watched as that girl chased after Spider. They ran around the corner._

"_C'mon! Chill out, Alissa! It was just a prank! I mean, just PRANKS!"_

"_BY HUMILIATING ME IN FRONT OF THEM?!"_

"_Oh…I'm so sor-!"_

_CRACK!_

"_ARGH!" screamed Spider. "My stick fell off!"_

"_Oh for God's sake," I said, face palming._

_Soon, I found myself enjoying the new school. Again, I was in separate classes, but I did my work well. I even bumped into this girl almost every single day._

_Her name is…Laura Stein. I believe that's your daughter, Henry._

_When I first her, my blue eyes met her pink eyes. She was…blushing. There was something that I never felt before._

_As time went by, she kept on asking if I wanted to…ahem…hang out. I accepted her and we went together. We ate lunch together, had dates and studied together. I joined her school council and even get to know more about her friends. I had this…feeling I always felt when I was around her. My heart always beated faster when I saw her. I felt my cheeks blushing. I felt my head becoming light-headed. My stomach felt pretty full._

_I realized that I was in love with Laura._

_Of course, Mitchell heard that. He was becoming so keen to know about my…'relationship' with Laura. He kept on giving me 'advice' on how to 'win' her. I didn't understand a single word from him. I just ignored him and I stayed being me. Laura loved me the way I was and…I loved her back._

_I became a couple with her._

…_wait…what? No, no, no. Don't give me that look, Henry. I'm telling you, we didn't kiss each other. Well…SHE kissed me on the cheek three times already…_

_Anyway, life was good. I thought that I finally had the chance to breathe._

_I was wrong._

_I noticed that Mitchell was becoming…worse. Apparently, he was getting into trouble a lot, getting at least 10 DETENTIONS daily. I sometimes found him smoking outside school…and he was getting…a LOT of money._

_To my horror, Jace told Mitchell about gambling, so my brother decided to make a fake account and did online gambling. This was SO unexpected. I remembered that one day when I got home, I spotted a butt-load of cash under Mitchell's bed. He offered me some, but I refused to. I didn't bother to tell Harley or Hawk about it._

_I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier, Harley._

_Remember how Spider sang that song? Well, Mitchell was INSPIRED by this. He started to make his own SoundCloud account and made MANY RAP SONGS. When he wasn't making strange praises to different gods, he would be rapping in his room with a microwave, recording his voice. He even got Spider to make the instrumental tracks. Within days, Mitchell became a HIT ARTIST. He reached over a MILLION followers, half of them from the school. He was so popular that everyone at school tried to follow him. Mitchell was…changing. He was becoming arrogant, showing off and flirting at girls. Sure, he made friends with the friends I made, but…he was…troublesome._

"_Wow," said Diesel – a bully who once talked to me in a non-violent communication. "Your brother is really THAT famous?"_

"_Yep," I said flatly. "He is hitting the shelf alright."_

"_I don't think it would be a good idea to keep hanging out with that guy."_

_I whipped around to face Diesel. "What?! Why?"_

_Diesel laughed as if it was obvious. "C'mon. Why would YOU – a puny boy married to the teacher's pet – hang out with Mr Fantastic there?"_

_My eyes narrowed. "First, I'm not THERE yet with Laura and second, Mitchell is my brother."_

_Diesel scoffed, frowning. "Listen, kid. No matter how strong or unbreakable your bond is with HIM, you know that he isn't the type of person you want to hang out. Seriously, he is a red flag for YOU."_

_I was nearly on the brink of fighting, but my temper simmered down. He had a point, but it would be cruel to turn my back on MY brother._

"_I'm…I'm not really sure," I said._

"_Trust me," said Diesel, walking off. "I know. I've seen those episodes before. Don't make me say I told you so."_

_I didn't take his word deeply…until one day._

_Mitchell became so famous and he had SO many followers on his SoundCloud account. Apparently, he even won a lot of money in gambling that he had enough to make…to make a concert._

_Mitchell and I set it up at the square of Brooklyn. We bought a stage, sub-woofers, spotlights and decorations to fit the concert. Mitchell even hired a musical crew to help us with the production. Now to tell you, Mitchell NEVER told Harley and Hawk about this._

_Apparently, Spider heard about it. He wanted to join us. Mitchell wasn't fond of the idea. He knew for a reason that he NEVER credit Spider for making the music and wanted him OUT of the concert. Regardless, Spider made it backstage. I had to call him out for his stupidity and Mitchell told him to stay out of the way when he was performing._

_Spider obeyed, but when Mitchell started to sing a rap song, Spider noticed that the music didn't sound 'right'. To my horror, Spider brought along a DJ SET and some instruments. Ignoring my pleads, Spider ran onto the stage and started to play the 'right' instrumental music. The whole audience cheered loudly to this. Jealous that Spider was getting the attention, Mitchell yelled at me to get that idiot off stage._

_I chased Spider around the stage while Mitchell tried to distract the audience by continuing rapping. At one point, I managed to grab of one of Spider's prized instruments. Even though I was trying to KINDLY take Spider away, I threatened to him that I would smash his instrument. This caused a scuffle and both of us fought over for the instrument._

_At one point, we accidentally smashed into one of the sub-woofers, causing it to fall. Worse, it was as high as a house, so it went crashing down onto the crowd. A large number of people were injured when the sub-woofer crashed onto them._

_This ended badly._

_Because of this, the audience started to jeer at Mitchell, claiming that HE was responsible for the fallen sub-woofer. Sadly, Mitchell had to cancel the show, so that we could call the ambulance over._

_Things went from bad to worse when Harley and Hawk JUST arrived when the ambulance arrived. Apparently, those two found Mitchell's hidden stash of cash. Hawk yelled at Mitchell IN FRONT OF EVERYONE for lying about the money. Spider ran away, ashamed._

_The next day, Hawk and Harley finally decided to give Mitchell a punishment. For lying AND illegally joining a gambling club, Mitchell's SoundCloud account and his gambling account were TERMINATED. They returned the money back to the gambling company. Mitchell was grounded for 1 month._

_I was even punished for helping Mitchell for the concert and for not telling the truth. However, it was my choice despite Harley and Hawk telling me that I didn't have to take the punishment. For me, I was also grounded, but for half a month._

_At school, I caught Mitchell and Spider in an alley. Mitchell was yelling at the top of his lungs at Spider for getting involved. Scared, Spider claimed that he just wanted to help and tried to apologize. Mitchell didn't listen. He continued to yell and yelled out curse words when he shouldn't have. What shocked me was that he truthfully told Spider that he was USING him the whole time and never saw him as a true friend to him. Mitchell left Spider to cry. I was disappointed at myself for not doing anything about the situation._

_A week passed and I hadn't talked with Mitchell. He refused to talk to anyone and even locked himself in his room at home. However, Mitchell called me over to his room one day._

_He told me that he had a 'grand plan'. He said that he was going to get revenge on Spider as the latter DIDN'T get into trouble for the damage he caused at the concert. I asked why and Mitchell said that it was how 'revenge and justice' worked. His plan was to spread rumors and lies about Spider across the school AND the social media while I posted up inappropriate pictures of Spider. I was shocked hearing this and I asked him why he would want ME to do those horrible things._

_His response? He snatched my necklace._

_MUM'S necklace._

_I begged for him to give it back, but he said that if I didn't help him, then he would break the necklace. He also threatened that he would KILL me and never consider me as a brother anymore._

_I was in tears and I wasn't thinking straight. I cared a lot about Mum's necklace more than anything in the world. Despite my thoughts, I agreed to help._

_It went bad ever since we decided to do cyber-bullying. Mitchell successfully told fake rumors around the school. He even posted up lies and false crimes Spider did. Since Mitchell was watching me, I had to force myself to post up crappy photos. Because there wasn't any embarrassing pictures of Spider, I had to take porn photos from the internet and edit them, making those photos looked like Spider was in them. I posted them up. No matter how many times I washed my face in the bathroom, I couldn't get those horrid images out of my head._

_Within moments, almost everyone turned their back on Spider. Many people started to hate Spider while some kept away from him. Draco and the Black Skulls weren't convinced by those rumors. Ariel was disgusted. Jace and Lucy were concerned about this._

_I avoided Laura, so that she wouldn't question me. However, Clyde asked me why I was being mean to Spider. I told him the truth, but he wanted Mitchell and me to stop. I told him I couldn't or Mitchell would try to kill me. Clyde was upset, but calmly told me that it was wrong to make rumors about another person and he told me to tell Mitchell off for his tolerance since I was HIS brother._

_I didn't know how Spider felt about the whole bullying thing until one day at a mall…_

_Near the last week of school before summer, Mitchell and I were brought to the mall. Harley and Hawk felt bad for being so hard on us, so they tried to cheer us up. It worked…sort of._

_When Mitchell started to smile, somebody appeared. It was Barrett with Spider hiding behind him. Spider looked like he was crying a lot. Apparently, he was so upset that he didn't show himself to ANYONE. Barrett caught wind of this and became angry at us for making stupid posts._

_Again, Harley and Hawk asked what this was about. Barrett's response?_

"_Don't you play dumb on me, you sick bastards! I know what you four are doing!"_

_He was so livid that he also believed that Harley and Hawk also took part in the cyberbullying action. I tried to calm everyone down, but Barrett and Mitchell were screaming at each other. This went out of control as the two started to fight. It went SO physical that they didn't notice that they were doing some damage on the shops nearby. Not only they got into a fist fight, they started to throw tables, seats and shelves at each other._

_When Hawk ran off to find security, Mitchell pulled out a KNIFE. There was a strange look in his blue eyes. He almost looked like a savage._

_Maniacally, Mitchell tried to KILL Barrett. I managed to pry the knife away from Mitchell. But Barrett was going berserk. He yelled at me to hand over the knife, but I held it, telling him to stop. I was in front of Mitchell, so I was worried that Barrett would try to hurt him._

_I couldn't let anyone hurt my brother Mitchell._

_Spider tried to tell me to calm down, but I wasn't thinking straight. To tell the truth, I noticed that he was trying to solve the problem without fighting, but I feared that he would try to kill me or Mitchell for the trouble we did._

_And eventually, I snapped._

_I swung the knife upwards and it went across SPIDER'S FACE._

_He quickly closed his eyes, but the damage was done._

_I scratched him across the right eye, leaving a long nasty slash…including over the eyelid._

_I snapped out of my paranoia when I realized what I did. At the first sight of blood slowly dripping from Spider's slash, I dropped the knife. Spider just stood there, shocked. The slash was bleeding, but luckily, there was little blood dripping from it._

_Barrett was over his raging point._

_He tackled me to the floor and started to punch me in the face. I felt his fist pounding my head. I was scared that I might have my skull cracked or my brain smashed in bits. However, that was when security arrived and dragged Barrett away._

_A few days after the incident, I was discharged from the hospital. I only got a minor concussion, so I was alright. Harley and Hawk asked me if I was alright, but I didn't listen. I asked them where was Mitchell and they said that he was at home. They even told me that I needed to head to the school because the principal wanted to talk to me._

_I headed towards the school, but I realized that it WASN'T the principle that called me over._

_It was the students._

_When I entered the cafeteria, I was met with glares, fearful looks and concerned faces. I noticed the hostility and fear in everyone._

_I noticed a few people in front. Draco was standing beside Laura who was looking down. Behind them were Sven, Alissa and Damien glaring daggers at me. Jace had hatred flaming in front of his eyes. Clyde just stood next to Fritz and Ariel in concern, blending in with the crowd. To my surprise, Barrett was also there, but…he was trembling…and looking away from me._

_Despite feeling weak in front of a thousand people, I managed to talk._

"_S-So…uh…anything alright?" I said nervously. "Where is Spider? Is he OK?"_

_Barrett looked at me. His eyes were bloodshot, possibly from crying a lot. "He's fine…he will survive."_

_I sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God."_

"_But he had to stay at the hospital. We don't know how much blood he lost. And by the look of his wound, he would have a scar…forever."_

_I felt tears forming in my eyes. "I-I am so sorry! I didn't mean to attack like that! I thought he was going to hurt my brother and…"_

"_Maybe HE should have killed you!" screeched one student. "After for what you two did!"_

"_Yeah!" screamed another student. "How do you explain all of this?!"_

_Most of the students started yelling at me. I was backing away in fear. Draco held his hands up._

"_Enough," he said._

_The whole place went silent._

_He slowly walked towards me._

"_What we want to know is why are you doing this to Spider?" asked Draco calmly. "Why are you spreading lies about him?"_

_I looked down. "My brother forced me to…"_

_Draco gasped. "What?!"_

"_My brother forced me to…" I said. "Didn't you heard that? He wanted me to join in his stupid act just to get revenge on Spider!"_

_I looked at all the students. It seemed that none of them were convinced._

"_OK, fine!" I said, raising my hands up. "I'll stop. But if Mitchell knows about this, he would be angry at me. Now, I have this necklace and is there-?"_

"_I haven't even finished talking," said Draco. "…I know that…you care about your brother a lot, but do you REALLY think we can just go on, pretending that nothing happened?"_

"_What do you mean?" I asked._

_Barrett sighed and got up. He took a few faltering steps towards me. My body tensed up as the next thing he said was the effect of being struck by lightning._

"_T…the school council made a punishment for this," he said, his voice breaking. "I…I am suspended from the school for the next half of this year…and you, Liam…you and Mitchell…are expelled from this school…forever."_

_I was dumbfounded. The news came up so unexpected that I didn't know what to do. I finally came up with my own response._

"_W-what?" I said. "Then…why didn't the principle told me in person?"_

"_That's because the teachers are going to visit Spider," explained one student from the school council. "They thought it would be best that we tell you the whole thing. You…you would understand us well."_

_I clenched my teeth anxiously. "F***. I…I guess I'm out. But…but is it OK if I can…still hung around here?"_

_Everyone was silent._

"_Uh…" said Draco. "I'm…I'm so sorry to say this…but we think it's best if…if you don't hang around with us anymore."_

_My jaw opened. "W-what?"_

_I looked around at the circle of faces. "But…but…I…I didn't hurt Spider on PURPOSE. I…I was forced to…my brother forced me to…and…and I don't want to see him disappointed…please listen…he…he was angry at Spider…and…and I could have stopped him…"_

_I looked at Draco. "You…you believe me…do you?"_

_Draco was troubled. "I do…but there is nothing much I can do for you."_

_I walked over to Alissa, Damien and Sven._

"_Please…" I said. "I'm telling the truth. I…didn't mean to…"_

"_If so, why did you make nasty comments about other people?" said Sven._

_I gulped. I remembered that I was sarcastic and blunt, so I tended to say rude things about others out of annoyance._

_All the students started to mutter at each other._

_I walked over to Jace._

"_Jace…you know why I did that, do you?" I said. "Do you believe me?"_

_Jace's eyes narrowed. "Why should I believe the person who nearly took my friend's life? If you are SO genuine, why did you post those images?!"_

_The crowd started to increase the volume._

_I walked over to Clyde. Ariel glared at me. Fritz just looked away._

"_You…you believe me, do you?" I asked them._

_Ariel and Fritz looked like they couldn't speak. Clyde sighed, trying to hide his face._

"_I…I do believe you…" he said. "…but…but you should have done something…you should have stopped Mitchell…in the first place. I already told you that."_

_I was left silent. I was surrounded by a lot of students. I took a deep breath and decided to give one last shot._

"_LISTEN!" I said at the top of my lungs. "I'm sorry for what I'd done, but can I redeem myself to all of you?! To show that I'm still a good person?!"_

_The students booed. I was pissed off._

"_OH C'MON! At least I was trying to stop that fight at the mall! I accidentally attacked Spider, but does that make me a criminal or something?! Does it look like I wanted to attempt murder?!"_

_The students continued to boo. This time, they insulting me._

"_By the love of God, can we just move on and forgive ourselves?! I mean every student in this room?!"_

_Enraged, Jace grabbed me by the collar. "Move on? MOVE ON?! You scarred my best friend for life! DO YOU THINK THAT WE CAN MOVE ON FROM THAT?!"_

_I growled. "Just blame for Mitchell for all of this!"_

"_But YOU'RE his brother! YOU'RE also responsible for this! Nobody can overlook that!"_

"_I'M NOT REALLY LIKE HIM! AND IF SO, DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KNOW WHAT S*** HE WILL DO NEXT?!"_

_Jace raised his fist, but someone grabbed it._

_It was Laura._

"_Jace," she said softly. "Let go…now."_

_Jace roughly let go off my collar. Laura looked at me for once, her pink eyes were shaking in emotion._

"_Liam," she said. "What you did to Spider AND Barrett is UNACCEPTABLE and UNFORGIVABLE. We all thought you two were our friends, but the whole time, you were lying. This school is a community where everyone can be safe…not to be mean to others. I know that you didn't mean to do cyber-bullying, but Jace is right. You only did all those things because you care about your brother more than others! Your horrible and disobedient brother! We all made this decision. You are NO LONGER ALLOWED TO HANG OUT WITH US!"_

_I was silent. Being kicked down was worse, but by your OWN FIRST girlfriend? Laura looked down, twitching._

"_L-Laura," I said, trembling. "I-I didn't mean to. I said I didn't mean to! I'm sorry! I promise I will never do it again! Please! We have been together for half of the year! You're a good friend to me! Who am I kidding, you're more than a friend. You're my girlfriend! I love you! Please. I can try! Next time, I can try to know what is right instead of following my brother's nasty intentions! Laura, please!"_

_But Laura wasn't listening. She was…angry._

"_OH SHUT UP!" she yelled. "THERE IS NO 'NEXT TIME'! I HAVE ENOUGH OF ALL OF THIS! I HAVE ENOUGH OF HANDLING MITCHELL'S BEHAVIOR! I HAVE ENOUGH OF YOUR CYBER-BULLYING! __**WE…ARE…DONE!**_ _YOU AND ME! YOU AND THIS SCHOOL! I'M DONE! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, SO GO AND DIE IN THE OCEAN FOR GOD'S SAKE! LEAVE! __**I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE!**_"

_My heart was shattered. Everything went dark for me. Laura pushed me aside and walked off. She slammed the door on the way out. I looked at all the frightened and angry faces of the school. It seemed that no one felt safe around me anymore. I started to breathe heavily. Tears were about to fall down from my eyes._

"_Oh, Liam," said Diesel, pretending to be genuine as he walked up to me. "Look at you. Look at you. Look at you…this is what I'm trying to protect you from! But I realized…you need to experience it first instead of knowing it…and you need to hear it from your closest friend. You are hanging around the wrong person and look at what this leads you to. You don't belong here. Not anymore. You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere. You shouldn't…even…__**exist**__."_

_I was at my breaking point. To think that I was shunned by everyone was devastating. And it was all because of my brother._

"_So…" I said, my voice cracking badly. "T-this means that…you don't want me to be around here? Just because of what Mitchell did?"_

_Barrett walked up to me. A regretful look appeared on his face. He put his hands onto my shoulders._

"_Liam," he said, crying. "I-I…I'm so sorry. If…if I didn't cause the fight…none of this would happen. I just…I just thought that would make Spider feel better."_

_I broke out from his grip. "N-NO! It…it wasn't your fault…t-this is all my fault! I'm so sorry, everyone! I shouldn't even…"_

_I stopped and ran out of the cafeteria. Barrett and Draco called me to stop, but I didn't listen. I knew that everyone wanted me gone for good, so let it be. Once I made it outside, I bent down and started to cry._

_Pathetic._

_That was what I was. Stupid for letting my father abused me. Stupid for failing to get Mum from staying. Stupid for letting Mitchell getting bullied. Stupid for letting him watched those stupid shows. Stupid for letting him be influenced by the wrong things. Stupid for blindly following his bid. Stupid for hurting Spider. To the point that I was STILL naive the whole time up to when I was FIFTH-TEEN. I didn't do anything to stop all the horrible things in my life. I was all by myself. Other than Mitchell, it was my own fault. Because of me, I let Satan punished me a lot and God gave out little help to protect me. I covered my eyes and sobbed._

"_Liam…" said a voice._

_I quickly got up, fearing that the students would try to kill me, but it was just Lucy._

"_Are you OK?" she asked._

_I wiped my tears. "I thought you would be with Jace."_

"_I didn't want to be a part of that mob. I'm…I'm so sorry about this. I didn't know."_

_I looked away. "You don't have to say sorry. It was my own fault."_

_I was about to walk away when Lucy grabbed my hand._

"_Wait," she said. "It wasn't your fault."_

"_Then who do I blame?" I said. "My own brother? My only family?"_

"_There is no one to blame for the mess you left here. Despite this, you and Mitchell never deserved this kind of cruelty."_

"_Then why do bad things happen?"_

"_I don't know. All I know is that you still have to live. If you give up now, do you think you will have a better future? You have to fight, Liam. You have to fight for your own achievements and rights. How long have you been silent for?"_

_I was quiet for a while. "I was mostly silent for all my life…but I wasn't afraid to show my standards."_

_Lucy smiled. "That's good to know. I know that we won't see each other again, but please…promise me this; no matter what, look after your own brother."_

_I was lost in thought. Why should I look after my brother? After all he did? "I can't."_

"_But he is YOUR brother."_

"_He is no longer my brother anymore. Our blood lines aren't the same. I won't take the promise. I CAN'T. I was so naïve. I don't have a family anymore."_

"_Liam…I…I have an older brother…I looked up to him for my whole life…I wouldn't know what to do without him…I always admire him…and it is best for people to look out for other siblings…can you do that for me?"_

_I stayed silent. I refused one time, but I didn't want to upset Lucy. She was a nice girl and she had a point. However, I couldn't handle the stress of being responsible for Mitchell's misdeeds._

_At this, I walked off, leaving a disappointed Lucy behind._

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

"Ever since Mitchell and I were expelled…" said Liam. "We moved back to San Francisco at the start of summer. Mitchell was mad at me, so he tried to throw my necklace away. I already reclaimed it and hid it from everyone. After a while, I noticed that Mitchell was acting strange. Not only he continued doing those freaking rituals…but he seemed to…try to win back my trust. He made that garden…but I never said 'thank you'. I stayed away from him. I changed my hair, so that I won't look like him anymore. I stayed away from others. Laura called me multiple times, but…I made the decision to permanently break up with her by not talking to her again. After all of this, I learnt my lesson. As long as I don't hurt others, nobody can hurt me. There is no one I can trust…the only person I can trust…is me."

Henry was silent as he heard the last part of Liam's story. He didn't know what to think about this. All along, Liam was being rude and snarky, but it turned out that he was actually abused by his childhood.

The worse thing?

Liam broke up with Laura THIS YEAR ALONE. He and Mitchell did cyber-bullying THIS YEAR ALONE. He scarred Spider THIS YEAR ALONE. No wonder why Mitchell rarely cared for anyone.

Liam had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Liam…" said Henry. "I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't know. Laura never told me about this. She looked alright after that incident."

Liam hung his head and groaned. "Maybe she did that because she doesn't want to be a burden to you!"

Henry was silent. He heard sniffing. He looked over to see Harley…crying…looking away.

"Harley?" said Henry. "Are you OK?"

"I'm sorry…" said Harley. "For everything, Liam."

Liam frowned. "You don't have to tell me again-"

"But I should have did something in the first place!" said Harley suddenly becoming agitated. "For a few years, I have been taking care of you and Mitchell, but Mitchell was out of my hands. Am I perfect? NO! Am I brave enough to punish Mitchell? NO! Maybe I should have discussed with Hawk to take Mitchell to a therapist? PROBABLY?!"

Henry cringed at this. Liam placed a hand onto Harley's shoulder.

"It's not your fault," said Liam. "Like what Lucy said to me before, no one is to blame. It was my fault for not looking out for Mitchell and look what this caused."

He stepped away. "I'm sorry."

Henry didn't know what to do. He then knew a way of how to console Liam. He slowly crept towards the blonde teen and hugged him.

"What?" said Liam. "What are you doing?"

"You worried me a lot, you punk," said Henry. "Now, I see why."

"So…you pity me?"

"No…it's more than that."

Liam sniffed and shed a few tears.

"How about this?" said Henry. "Once this is all over, I will take both of you back to Brooklyn. There, maybe I can try to convince the school to get you back, Liam."

Liam broke free from the heart. "W-What? Seriously?!"

Henry nodded. "Seriously."

Liam sighed. "I…I don't know. The students would still hate me."

"Maybe we can change their minds."

"Look, you're an adult, but you can't change them."

"But maybe we can show them what they did was wrong."

Liam was silent. "I'm…I'm not so sure. It would be best if…I don't care about them anymore…I bet that Laura never miss me."

"Maybe she does," said Harley. "Then why did she tried to call you?"

Liam's mouth opened as he absorbed those words. "I don't think I would make a good boyfriend. You know, Henry. I think I threw away my heart a long time ago and now it's gone."

Henry smiled. "Maybe we can get it back for you."

Liam chuckled at that small joke. He smiled a bit, but frowned.

"Thank you guys…" he said. "For letting me to be around with you two. It's nice to be with someone. But I find it impossible to care again."

Henry smiled. "Let's try soon. Now let's go find that battery."

* * *

**?'s POV**

I stared at the pictures that I had gathered. There were so many of them. I placed them all in golden frames just to remind me of the family I used to have. There were my two sons; both of them looked the same, smiling and filled with joy…almost looked the same if it wasn't for the different shades of their eye colors.

My life was a mess.

At the beginning, I met my husband. We both fell in love at first sight. We were the best known couple at high school. University besties. We were happily married. I still had the engagement ring on my finger. I gave birth to two twin brothers. I would have been the most proud mum on Earth.

But the whole thing went downhill.

My husband had this temptation to join the bad people. To 'fit in' he said. I reminded him many times that he didn't need to show himself as 'one of them' because he was already perfect to me and the world.

Yet, he gave into his temptation.

It was scary to imagine that he became drunk at that bar before being beaten by a gang of drunk people and…had his head…stabbed.

After he was discharged from the hospital, I assured that he would be alright. Unfortunately, I didn't know how the bar incident would impact him SO much.

He was a different person.

My husband became a cruel, sadistic and aggressive man. He was no longer the love I ever knew. Not anymore. He became lazy and slouched on the couch for millions of years. He would have sudden mood whips, mostly getting so angry. He took his anger out mostly on Mitchell and Liam…I mean Mitchell. Mitchell…would be beaten up by his father a lot. I tried my best to comfort my sons, but I had my own problems.

I was having trouble with my jobs. For some reason, my skills were becoming weaker and my paycheck was decreasing. It was too much for me to handle. I would cry in my bed whenever I had a bad day. My husband would see me and called me pathetic for crying.

As this continued on, Mitchell became a worse kid. After watching those inappropriate shows, he became more…immature. He molested a girl at school and Liam saw it, traumatizing him. The principle saw this and expelled Mitchell. When we got home, my husband was angry. He yelled at Mitchell for sexually abusing a girl. Mitchell's response? My husband would do the same. Mitchell blocked him from doing anything violent. However, Mitchell was punched to the ground. My husband blamed him for not doing anything to save that girl.

I couldn't handle all of the pressure. My husband becoming violent, me losing my job, my sons getting into trouble and our family were nearly poor. I literally lost my mind, trying to keep myself from breaking apart. I was REALLY hurt and I felt like I was going to explode. I wanted to run away.

I made the mistake of running away.

I grabbed all my belongings and used my car to get out of the town. I moved to a new city where I stayed in an apartment with a cheap rent. When I was going through my stuff, I realized that I had forgotten about my necklace.

MY mother's necklace when she was young.

And I had forgotten about my family.

I felt guilty for leaving my sons behind, but I couldn't support them. Not when I lost my job and let my husband beat them.

The years went by and I was all by myself, with no one to talk to. I hadn't heard much about what happened to my family. However, I caught news that my husband disappeared mysteriously and my sons adopted by new parents. I was upset, but it didn't bother me because I was used to it. I knew that my sons would be OK with their new parents and I was a bad mother to them.

However, this…ink invasion happened. Ink flooded the whole place. Monsters roamed the entire North America country.

Many people were killed.

I feared that my sons were killed as well.

Honestly, at this time, I wouldn't care about my children because I knew that they would be safe. But with those ink monsters eating every single thing seen, I knew that they wouldn't be safe. I wouldn't look away from them if I didn't know that they were in San Francisco; where the Ink Machine stolen. Where the ink monsters came from.

At first, I thought that I was a horrible mother. But at the moment, I realized that it was my own responsibility to look after them because I was the one who gave birth to those twins. I couldn't leave those two helpless children along even though they were in their teen years.

I remembered what Liam said to me.

I always remembered it.

"_At least you have me. The only thing I'm grateful for is having a good mother like you."_

Grateful to have a good mother. Huh. I thought that I wasn't a good one, but looking back to my old life, I remembered the times I enjoyed being with my children. It was warm…beautiful…joyful.

I wanted to see my children again. I didn't want to believe that they would be dead, but I knew for some reason that they were still alive. I wanted to go back to San Francisco and find them, even if that would kill me.

I looked at one of the family portraits I had before my husband went to that stupid bar. I felt tears dripping down my face. I didn't need to worry that I would judge. I knew that crying was OK and it was one of the ways to release grief.

Whatever Mitchell and Liam were going through, I hoped that they were alright.

"Your mum is coming home to you…my dear sons," I said. "Mitchell…and Liam…Von Richmond."

* * *

**AN: Guess who is that? Oh yes. It appears that Mrs Von Richmond joined the story late. **

**This chapter is pretty upsetting. Now you see why Liam is so hard on others. Also, it is revealed that Spider, Barrett and Laura were once friends of Liam. I want to make them close, so I added these backstories.**

**The chase scene - where the teens are chased by terrorists - is based on from SMG4's '_Guards and Retards: The Vacation_'. Liam's flashback is based on SMG4's '_Rapper Bob Arc_' and Tamarinfrog's _'Final Match_' Comic. Go check them out.**

**The song Spider sang is '_Jealous_' by Nick Jonas. ****If anyone has a problem with this, let me know and I will immediately get rid of the song.**

**[1] If anyone is wondering what is this 'waifu' about, go find it in Chapter 2!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you like this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	9. 8 - Almost There to the Top

**AN: Hi there! I'm back with another chapter. I'm pretty surprised of how far I went. I am nearly done with completing this story before school starts. I hope all of you are enjoying the story so far.**

**Just to note, Elena's backstory will be revealed so for those who are experiencing PTSD or depression may be disturbed by this. Please let me know if you have any concerns.**

* * *

**C****hapter 8 – Almost There to the Top**

**Bendy's POV (at 1:48 pm)**

I was walking through the forest for a long time. Elena was still out there, so I needed to find her before we could get moving. It wasn't safe out here. If it was too late, I wouldn't be able to save her and it wasn't worth for both of us to be killed. I didn't tell anyone that I was going to look for Elena on my own, but I decided to do so, thinking that…she didn't need a whole crowd to see how she was doing.

I finally found Elena. She was sitting all alone on a large wooden log that sat upon a large water river. Her legs were dangling, nearly touching the water below. She didn't have her sunglasses on as she clipped them to her jacket collar. There was a blank look on her face.

I slowly climbed onto the log and crept towards her.

"Hey Elena," I said.

Elena didn't bother to look at me. "Go away, Bendy."

"Come on," I said, sitting next to her. "Tell me what's going on."

She didn't say a word. She was just staring at the distance. I decided to try to cheer her up a bit. I looked at where she was looking. I never noticed how beautiful the forest was until at that moment. The river was pure blue, not infested by anything that might try to poison it. The trees were swaying and looked so fresh. The grass was lush green with sweet-looking flowers. It was like the first garden God made.

OK. That last line…I don't really know what that means.

"Wow," I said smiling. "It is pretty here. Do you think? I can't believe that this place is untouched, regardless of those ink monsters plaguing the world."

Elena remained silent. I looked at her. The branches from above covered her face in shadows, making her looked depressed.

"You don't have to feel ashamed about what happened," I said slowly. "I'm sure the others will feel better soon."

"No…" said Elena gloomily. "It's…it's more than that."

"So…what's going on with you?"

Elena FINALLY looked at me. "Huh?"

"What's going on? With you? I don't understand. You were acting so insecure and aggressive. You…you don't seem to trust me or others that much. Even though we barely chat with each other, I'm concerned about you."

Elena frowned, looking away. "You shouldn't. You shouldn't pity me."

"No," I said. "I don't pity you. I CARE about you. Especially since day one. And I wouldn't know if you placed your finger on my bow tie!"

Elena was silent for a while. "Even so, you shouldn't. I'm not a good girl. Not even a good-looking one. You should just look away from me when I first met you. I was thinking about turning my back on you, but you are a good person, Bendy. I'm not. That's how the world works, I guess."

I sighed, narrowing my eyes. "Do I REALLY need to remind you again? It's not good for you to say that we are not allowed to care about you. You can't change our minds and you can't think THAT low of yourselves. Yes, what you did was rude, but now, it's like you are attempting suicide! It's pretty unhealthy to be alone. Remember what happened to the workers of Joey Drew Studios after they reverted back to normal? They have to go to see a therapist. Apparently, they like to be isolated so it took about four people to hold them down from escaping. Good lord, I'm not letting someone be alone, EVER. I told you already and yet you keep forgetting. I'm getting really mad that people like you are so negative. Shame on you. But maybe you can change and for once, listen up."

Elena looked down. "That's not how the others would see."

I decided to grin. "Well…but they mostly saw the good in you. Let me tell you something Laura said to me before you came; she said a lot about you…you were a good person. You were the smartest and most intelligent kid from Orlando. That is one cool Canadian chick if you ask me. She told me that you once came first in the spelling bee, got a lot of good grades and have some slick serious style."

This surprised Elena. "Style?"

But then, she slightly smiled. "Oh…right."

"Anyway," I continued. "She couldn't stop talking about cool you are. Both of you have a lot in common."

Elena's smile faded. "I'm nothing like Laura."

"In personality, yeah. That's understandable. But you two are both intelligent, loyal to others, don't socially open up your emotions and respect different people from different cultures!"

Elena's jaw opened. "W-what? She…she hide her emotions as well?"

"That's because she wants to be seen as a great role model," I said. "She doesn't want to be seen as a burden and instead aims to cheer everyone up. She tried to cheer you up a few times, right?"

Elena nodded. "I…I suppose so."

"And the best part?" I said, patting her on her left shoulder. "She was right after all. You ARE a good person. It's just that you are pretty friendless to being with, so you need help to improve on that. You are one of a kind here, gal. Even for a dark-skinned person like you."

Elena slightly chuckled at that joke. "You don't have to comment on my nationality."

"But it can be important."

I let out another sigh. "Well…THERE is one more thing I would like to now."

"What?"

"Why did you lash out at Spider like that? Are those glasses important to you?"

Elena's face turned pale. Her eyes widened up.

I immediately put my hand onto hers.

"Hey," I said. "Take it easy. You don't have to say it or-"

"Wait," said Elena. We were both silent. I noticed that her face slowly turned back to its original color. "Actually…I thought about it last night…and…I think I should tell you."

I sighed. "OK then. Well…you have been keeping a lot and it seems to be troubling you. I think it is best for you to let it out."

Elena looked down and nodded. She closed her eyes, before opening them, sparkling in confidence and determination.

"Right," said Elena. "Listen…I…I know how you are…the…Dancing Demon and how cheerful you are…but…first…honestly…what do you think the world is for you?"

I was silent for a while. I wasn't told of this question before. "For me…I would say…the world is just filled with ups and downs. Unexpected things happen, so it is important to enjoy those things."

Elena shook his head in disagreement. "Not for me."

"Then what's the world for you?"

"The world is either to be strong or be weak and perish. That's how the world works. It is rash. It is where you can't live a blissful life. For me, I was one of the unlucky ones."

"U…unlucky one?" I said nervously.

"Yeah…mostly…it happens at the school I used to go to. It was in Orlando. I…I was an outcast…I was pretty friendless…I barely have any…because…I was different to the girls…they all like to wear make-up, dresses and princess costumes. Not my type. I had a bit of a tomboyish personality. Because any differences are not allowed at that place…it was…troublesome. As I grew older, it was painful. I was no longer a kid, the security had stopped, kids separated by ranks, the weak were picked on and everyone was trying to catch on what's hot on media. Everyone around me looked like a superstar while I – on the other hand – looked like a freak."

"Wow wee," I said surprised. "Were you…bullied?"

"Yeah. And the teachers were…oblivious to the bullying. I was bullied a lot…by both males AND females. Because I was a tomboy, I was teased a lot. Boys would be rough with me…and girls would insult me a lot. I was called an idiot…weakling…slut…rumors and lies about me spread around the school, and I failed to stop them. It…it gets worse."

She stopped for a while before continuing.

"When I was 8 years old, I was in first place for the spelling bee. I got a golden trophy; my first award. I was very proud of this. But then…a bunch of mean girls stole it. I tried to get it back, but they held onto it. I yelled at them to give it back. They gave it back…but how?"

I inhaled sharply.

"They threw it at my feet. My first trophy…smashed into pieces…never to be seen again."

I was silent. I remembered how she yelled at Spider for breaking her glasses, so…

"So…" I said. "…is this why…is this why you yelled at Spider? Because…Spider 'breaking' your glasses remind you…of those girls breaking your trophy?"

Elena sighed sadly. "Yeah. That's…that's why I am very protective of my glasses…they mean a lot to me…and…I don't know what to do without them. I…I wasn't alone though. At the age of 11, I…I met those two blonde boys. I…don't remember their names though…but I know that they are TWINS. They were my first friends and one of them became my first boyfriend."

I raised my invisible eyebrows. "That's interesting."

"It didn't last for long…one day…my boyfriend…he locked me in a bathroom stall…and…molested me…"

I gasped.

"He…never let me go…pinned me to a wall while he had his way…by kissing me for a long time…I was found crying on the floor…I...I yelled at the other blonde boy to stay away from me…I…I didn't mean to yell at him…I…I was afraid that he would hurt me as well…I never see those two boys again ever since…that's…that's why I'm uncomfortable around others…because I don't trust them."

I stayed silent for a while. "D-did your parents know about this?"

Elena's eyes narrowed. "Sort of…my parents weren't the best in the world. You see…my mother really loved me a lot because…I look like her…except that she dyed her hair light blue. She always took care of me and see what is bothering me. My father…he…he…is…complicated. He always made sure what was right for our family and…we were…low on money."

I was surprised. "YOU'RE POOR?! How come you…?!"

"We got enough money to rent a cheap house, but…food was a struggle…and…the bills were tough. We were close to being evicted, but we would always scrap enough money to pay the bills. One day…when I was 5 years old…a friend of my father…told him…he should go out gambling…get out money more."

She stopped for a while. I swore I saw tears in her eyes.

"Eventually, he won a jackpot and went back to tell us about it. Mum wasn't pleased by this, saying that gambling was bad. Dad assured that he was doing this for all of us, so that we wouldn't be poor. However…Mum was right. Almost every single night, he would go out to gamble and win a LOT of money. At first, I thought he was doing this for us, but…he was doing it for…himself…he changed."

She stopped and wiped her tears.

"He…he became greedier…more aggressive…especially around me. He lost his job and a lot at gambling. He drank a lot and I thought he took some drugs. He wasn't violent, but instead…senseless. He barely talked to us…he…he never showed me love to me anymore…he never talked to me or Mum. We were…seen as nothing to him. For the next 10 years…"

She stopped again and took a deep breath.

"One day…when I turned 15 this year…somewhat before summer…I was in my room when I heard yelling. My parents were having an argument. Dad was complaining a lot about how he lost his big gambling bet. Then, Mum yelled at him for how selfish he was. The conversation got uglier and when I decided to see what was going on…a loud 'bang' could be heard. I mean…THREE bangs. It was silence…and then…more gunshots. Confused and scared, I went out of my room to see what was going on. I froze at the sight of this; my parents lying on the ground…in a pool of their own blood…with bullet holes in their chests. And…there was a gun in Dad's hand." **[1]**

Again, there was another pause and the sun seemed to dim.

"Neighbors from nearby heard this and called the police. Eventually, I figured out that the conversation Mum and Dad had gone out of control and…Dad SHOT Mum. Dad – for once – snapped out from his arrogance and saw what he done. He was so distressed by this that he decided…to take his own life as well. I…I would never forget the moment."

A few tears shed from her eyes.

"A student who was...close to me offered to let me stay at her house. I had to move my belongings out as the house was used as an investigation scene and no longer available for me. I…I suddenly fell into a depression. I would sometimes cry onto my pillow, telling myself how worthless I was. How pathetic I was from the beginning. And yet…I…I didn't do anything to stop my parents' death. During this…I…I had sudden flashbacks to the horrible things in my life…people insulting me…those girls destroying my trophy…being sexually assaulted…and my parents bleeding to death…I would suddenly remember them when I see disturbing things…it was…horrible."

I stayed silent. "How…how come those flashbacks so suddenly appeared in your mind at different times?"

Elena sighed. "I…I think I'm suffering a bit of PTSD. It wasn't too bad, but it was hard to see those painful memories again and this disorder changed me a bit. I became paranoid of other people, but not extremely. I know that I showed signs of disturbance of you…but…I was scared…not only because you're a demon…and you are a male. I believe…that boys would try to have their ways with girls."

I gasped. I stood up and spread my arms. "NO WAY! I would never do that! I wasn't made to be some kind of sex toy! I'm made for children and I want to help others a lot!

Elena winced. "S-sorry. I…I guess that…I…I…I feel like a burden to everyone…honestly, I don't want to go on this crazy adventure packed with a bunch of strangers. It felt a bit alienated at first. The reason why…I don't talk about this that much was because…I was…afraid of remembering the pain before…but…after what happened last night…I thought about it…and…yeah…I think it would be time to come clean…but…now…I'm not. I guess that I will never change."

I placed my hand onto Elena's shoulder. "You're still alive. You still got a LOT to live out there. You can still change…you just need help."

Elena looked at me. At first, she looked doubtful, but the tears on her face showed that she TRULY wanted to be with me.

"So do you trust me?" I said, reaching out my hand for Elena to grab.

Elena stayed silent for a while before nodding. She shook my hand. Her eyes brightened up when she saw…something behind us.

I looked behind. Right on the ground next to the log was the black bus.

And oh, along with the rest of our group.

Laura's mouth was twitching.

Spider looked like he was going to cry.

Draco had his arms crossed.

The others just looked at us in shocked concern.

"Guys," said Elena shamefully. "I'm…I'm so sorry. I know how I acted and-"

"We're not here for that," said Draco. "We understand. It's about…something else."

"How long have you've been standing there for?" I asked as Elena and I got down from the log.

"Longer than enough for all of us to hear the whole thing," said Draco with a stern look. He turned to Elena. "Elena. How could you?"

Elena looked worried. "Why are you-?"

"I'm just pissed that you didn't tell us about this in the first place. And you didn't even told me that you are suffering post-traumatic stress disorder!"

The tone of Draco's voice was as sharp as a knife.

"So, the whole time you WERE bullied!" said Jace.

"And your father was a DRUNK?" said Lucy.

"So, all the time," said Sven. "Every time some unfortunate event happened, you would remember your past and lashed out just like what happened?"

Elena nodded, sniffing.

"And…you were…sexually abused by this blonde boy…" said Lucy. "…does he…have a twin brother?"

Elena said, "Yes."

Almost everyone gasped.

"So…you…met…him…" said Jace.

"Who are you talking about?" said Elena.

"That doesn't matter now," said Draco as he came up to her. "What I want to know is WHY. Why did you hide the fact that you are suffering?"

"Oh for God's sake!" said Elena wearily. "I thought I just told Bendy and you guys heard it! Would you do the same if you don't want to remember all that f***ing s*** that happened in your life?"

I would have called her out for her language, but something told me that it wasn't a good time to do so.

Draco sighed. "Let me tell you what my grandfather said to me; when you keep a secret, it will be exposed soon. And when the time comes, there are a million ways to deal with it. You told us that you are struggling with your life. We can help."

Elena started to have tears, but try to wipe them off. "You won't understand. Neither of you will."

"Maybe WE are the ones who can understand," said Damien. "You know it from our past experiences."

Elena absorbed the words into her skin as if they were new to her. She nodded. I saw Laura walking towards her, trembling. The two girls stared at each other before one hugged the other.

Laura hugged Elena and started crying.

"Laura…" said Elena. "I'm…"

"I'm sorry too," sobbed Laura.

"…what?"

"I shouldn't yell at you like that. The reason why I did was because I couldn't handle the stress of calming you down. You are my cousin, so I'm responsible for you."

Elena was surprised by this. Her silver eyes twinkled in confusion, before becoming smooth in comfort. She wrapped her arms around Laura and let her cry. After a while, the two let go. Spider walked up to Elena.

I noticed that the right eye part looked…natural. Remember the funny thing that he looked like he was wearing make-up? At that moment, it seemed to be washed off and revealed a…a long scar across his right eye.

Elena noticed it as well, but didn't know what to say.

"E…Elena…" stuttered Spider as he held her hands. "I'm sorry for breaking your glasses."

"No," said Elena. "It was my fault for yelling at you. I shouldn't do that."

"All we have to do now is to make sure that we stick together," said Draco. "No more running away from each other or we will all be in grave danger."

Spider let go, but he held out his hand to Elena.

"So do you trust me now?" he said.

Elena stared at the hand in fear. She looked worried for a while, but then came a confident look. She shook Spider's hand.

"I'll try to," said Elena. "Starting now."

I saw that a peaceful and satisfied state went over the whole group. Things started to look better from that moment.

"Hey guys!" called Lucy, looking over thick bushes. "There seems to be something there. I think you need to see."

We all got together and went over to Lucy. We all gasped when we saw this.

Just in front of the bushes was a LARGE CLEARING. There seemed to be a makeshift harbor that was made by wooden planks. There were two medium-sized wooden huts on the side, the shape of a house. All the wooden planks were yellow.

The most extraordinary thing about the harbor was that there was a GIGANTIC, LONG ocean of black ink.

Ink.

Black ink.

PURE black ink.

It was bubbling.

Steaming.

HOT.

I shuddered.

Because of how hot the ocean was, the temperature of the ink caused the whole place to be humid.

The smell was nasty.

Whelp…if I had a nose.

It reminded me back in at the haunted studio when Henry and I had to cross over a large black ink pool. We used a boat to go through the ocean. Henry was the one who was VERY disturbed by this. It was so cold…lonely…and creepy going through the ink waves. Worse, we had to escape from this…this…this…

At that moment, I wasn't sure if the hand was there.

"That's one bloody long ocean," said Clyde, combing his now brown streak on his hair.

"Wait," said Draco, checking his map. "It appears that this ink ocean covers a large part of America. It stretches from Kansas to California. This is supposed to be the quickest way to San Francisco!"

"This is great!" said Alissa. "FIRST we have to drive through a zombie-apocalypse road and NOW we have to go over THERE?!"

"Look!" I said, pointing to something.

We all looked to the right. There, we saw a large pirate's boat. It had white, clean and fresh sails, stained but healthy wooden planks and…

"Huh?" said Laura, eyeing a rectangular-shaped door on the side of the boat. "There's a garage door?"

"Maybe it can fit the bus," said Elena.

"Ooh!" said Spider like an excited child. "Can we go on that?"

Draco looked worried. "I'm not sure. I don't enjoy going on cruises."

"At least it's better than going on bloody planes!" objected Clyde.

"I kill for some hot tub if there's one up there…" groaned Sven.

"That is our only way to get to San Francisco," I said. "Let's go on that."

"Fine by me," said Jace. "But please don't act like a pirate, anyone."

* * *

**Third Person's POV, ?**

Henry, Harley and Liam sneaked through the mine shafts. They had to be careful. The whole place was filled with many slaves and ink monsters. They didn't want to be spotted by the ink monsters or they would be bitten. Even worse, the ink monsters would drag them away and they would never find the battery. They didn't want to be seen by the slaves. Who knew what those miners would do to them?

They hid behind a corner and looked around the corner. From there, they saw many slaves hacking the walls, getting out precious gems and rocks. One of them was a…

"A DIAMOND?!" said Henry loudly.

"Shush!" hissed Liam, pulling him behind the wall. "Keep your voice down!"

At this, an ink monster guard looked behind, but it didn't see Henry or Liam in time. It shrugged and continued to watch over the slaves emotionlessly.

Henry, Harley and Liam peeped from the wall. They saw the diamond. One slave took it and placed it on the mine carts. Another pressed a button nearby, causing the mine carts to drive away.

Harley gasped upon seeing something. "Guys…look."

She was pointing to the left.

There was one slave with grey hair. He was mining before going into a violent coughing fit. He didn't seem to be concentrating on mining. At the sight of this, the ink monsters came up to him. The grey haired man didn't bother to turn around and continued to cough violently. He then collapsed onto the floor, sick.

In response, one ink monster leaned in and bit the slave onto the arm. As expected, that slave turned into an ink monster, just like the rest of them. It let out a roar before walking off.

"Oh my land," said Henry.

"This is just…miserable…" said Harley.

Liam touched his chin. "My brother caused all of that…but I didn't expect that his actions would cause this."

"Right," said Henry. "What do you think your brother do to do all of this?"

Liam winced. "It…it might sound weird…or not for you…as you already went through that haunted studio. My brother…did freaking rituals with pentagrams. I remembered seeing him in random places with candles around him. Some of his 'rituals' works. Well…for pity work such as finishing homework or making a cake. Maybe…"

He gulped. Henry bit his lip.

"Maybe this 'ritual' he committed did all of this," said Henry, finishing Liam's sentence.

Liam shook his head at the thought that his brother's insanity and demonic act caused the ink invasion.

"Yeah," sighed Liam. "I just wish that Tuesday would have corrected Mitchell a bit in the first place."

They caught two slaves being allowed to go on a rest break. Both of them were female and around Liam's age. One had pink hair tied up in a ponytail, blue eyes, had Asian light peach skin and wore a black beanie. The other girl had purple hair neatly tied in a long low braid ponytail, purple eyes, light peach skin and wore a purple fedora.

"Wait, is that…Victoria and Diana?" said Liam, tilting his head.

"Who?" said Henry.

"Oh," said Harley. "Those two girls are friends of Liam."

"'Friends' is a strong word," said Liam deadpanned. "More like 'acquaintances'."

"This is stupid," whispered Victoria, the pink haired girl. "This is really stupid."

"Can't believe that they are treating us like bondsmen," grumbled Diana, the purple haired girl.

"I actually don't mind doing the work, but they are just using whips when we slow down. Can't they see that we are just trying our best?!"

"Will you quiet down? We need to be as quiet as possible, so that they won't hear us."

Victoria sighed. "Sorry. I'm getting frustrated with those idiots pushing us around. I'm losing patient like them."

"Right."

"…hmm…do you know where they take those rocks to once we finished hacking them?"

"I actually heard once that those mine carts are full, they would all travel to a tunnel and they will store those jewellery into Mykrylais's treasure room."

"Mykrylais?" wondered Harley.

"Shush," said Mitchell.

"And also," said Diana. "I heard that once somebody found a BATTERY. The size of a thick dictionary. It can power ANYTHING. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut nobody knows what use it can bring, so they toss it in the carts. I think it would be buried in the treasure room now."

Henry's eyes widened up in interest. "A battery?"

"What?" said Liam. "They have one?"

DING DONG!

A loud bell could be heard. The ink monsters moved out from the area.

"Ugh," said Diana. "Great. We have to continue our dirty work now."

"Don't take it that bad," said Victoria, spreading her dirty hands. "Besides, we are on mine cart duty now. And at least the guards decided to leave us alone for this shift."

The two girls walked off to the railway. Henry and Harley looked at each other.

"They have a FREAKING BATTERY there?!" said Harley.

"Yeah," said Henry. "Whoever this 'Mykrylais' guy is for the millionth time, he must have it in his 'treasure room'."

"What should we do?" said Liam. "We need that battery to get to the surface!"

Henry sighed. "There is only one thing to do."

Victoria and Diana leaned onto the mine carts. They waited for the rest of the slaves to bring the gems and placed them into the carts, before moving the carts.

"OK," said Diana. "The carts are full."

"Right," said Victoria.

She bent down and was about to flip the lever when a rattling noise was heard.

"Eh…" said Diana, staring at one pile of gems. "Is it just me or did those rocks moved?"

"What?" said Victoria, standing up.

The two girls saw one pile of gems in a mine-cart…moving…a…bit. The strangest thing was that they could hear muffles and…there was a…odd object poking out. It seemed to be TWO BLUE BALLS connected together, wiggling about.

"That is suspicious," said Diana, raising an eyebrow.

Victoria's eyes narrowed. She went close to the object and gave it a hard SPANK.

WHACK!

"YOW!" screamed the object.

It shot out of the cart to reveal to be…

"L-Liam?" said Victoria and Diana in unison.

Liam gulped. He was screwed. Alas, Henry and Harley had to reveal themselves, so the two adults poked their heads out from the large cart.

"Mrs Tiffany?" said Diana.

"And it that…" said Victoria. "Henry?"

Henry nodded.

All the slaves saw this, but Victoria quickly spoke up.

"Don't worry about this," she said. "This is none of your business for now. Diana and I will interrogate those idiots."

The slaves slightly calmed down and went back to what they were doing. Liam gave Victoria a glare.

"Really?" said Liam. "Do you have to say that?"

"Hey," said Victoria. "You can't blame me for having a razor-tongue like you."

"And what about touching my butt?"

Diana face palmed. Victoria blushed.

"Oh…" said Victoria sheepishly. "Right. Sorry."

As Henry and Harley got out from the cart, Victoria hugged Liam.

"It's OK," said Liam. "I'm here."

"Sorry," said Victoria, stepping back. "It was just so long ever since I've seen you."

"Just what are you three doing here?" said Diana. "And why are you in casual clothes? Not only do they reveal that you are not like us, but they are dirty!"

Henry shook his head. "We actually got trapped in the warehouse…except that the place we were in was…kind of safe to start with. We are trying to find a way to get to the surface and stop whatever is causing this problem."

Victoria and Diana looked surprised by this.

"So…why here?" asked Diana.

"We heard your conversation," explained Harley. "You said something about a battery, right? We need that battery, so that we can use the elevator to get to the surface."

Victoria and Diana were both taken aback by this.

"I…I'm not sure if that's a good idea," said Diana.

"C'mon," said Liam. "If you don't do something about this sticky situation, we might be all trapped here forever! And we don't know what is going on at the surface. If whoever this 'Mykrylais' guy continue to do all of this, none of us are safe."

"But how?"

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," said Victoria.

"You mean going to find a simple battery?" questioned Henry. "Or being slaves for your whole life?"

"But neither of us know what's out there! If you go through that tunnel, you might bump into Mykrylais himself! He's the one responsible for all of this."

"I thought Mitchell was…" muttered Liam.

"He did," said Diana. "But it was Mykrylais who did all the damage ever since Mitchell 'spawned' him…I believe. That demon…is stronger than you know. And other than him, you might bump into those Bendy monsters."

"I survived two of them during the summer," said Henry.

Victoria looked nervous. She went towards Henry and leaned towards his ear.

"I'm not sure if you can," she said. "One of them; that monster is Beast Bendy. And he…he…"

She paused to take a moment.

Henry was getting concerned. "What?"

"Mykrylais…turned…Joey Drew…into…Beast Bendy."

Henry's eyes widened in horror. What? Joey Drew? Beast Bendy?

IMPOSSIBLE.

"You're saying that…" said Henry shocked. "Now…that muscular demon thing is…my friend Joey?"

Victoria nodded gravely. "Yes…and…his first victim was…was…my father." **[2]**

Henry stood back. He was overwhelmed that his partner/ friend/the manager of Joey Drew Studios turned back into that damn monster again. Even worse, it…it already killed a human life. And it was someone's daughter. THAT young girl's daughter.

Henry's eyes narrowed. "Let us just go there."

"No way," said Diana. "That is too risky and dangerous."

"Please," said Liam. "Like we said, if we don't do anything, Mykrylais will kill us all."

Victoria looked troubled. Diana wasn't convinced.

"OK then," said Victoria. "Hop in."

Diana rolled her eyes.

Henry, Harley and Liam got into the mine carts. They made sure that they were well buried in the pile of gems.

"If you really want to kill yourselves," said Diana. "Go ahead."

"And oh," said Victoria, taking out something. "You need this."

She brought out a large bottle that was labelled…

"Acetone?" said Henry.

"Yeah," said Victoria. "I kind of stole it before we all got enslaved. Just to note that it isn't the Ink Machine causing all of this."

"It isn't?" said Harley.

"Mykrylais used it to make new ink monsters, but the real source of power is the PENTAGRAM. It is in the same room as the Ink Machine. If you get rid of it, then Mykrylais will be powerless and everything will turn back to normal."

Henry winced. He remembered seeing that pentagram for the first time when he came to the warehouse. Besides, he was surprised that the world would be immediately saved once they get rid of the pentagram; everything would go back to normal.

"So when you get to the surface," instructed Victoria as she gave the bottle to Henry. "Make sure that you spill all of this on the pentagram. It will be enough to rub away the ink."

"Thanks," said Henry.

"And please. On one occasion…please set us free. We have been working here for 2 days now, but…we fear that this might keep going."

Henry and Liam looked at each other. They both nodded in confidence.

"Don't worry," said Henry. "We will do our best to save everyone here!"

"Awesome," said Victoria grinning.

"Well, say goodbye to us," said Diana, pressing the button. "Say hello to your graves."

Henry suddenly felt a jerk as the cart zoomed off along with Liam's and Harley's. He watched as the carts rode along the rails before heading to a dead end. Apparently, this 'dead end' opened up to reveal a dark tunnel. The carts went through the entrance.

A shiver went down Henry's spine as the door closed behind them.

The carts zoomed off through the dark tunnel. Henry forced himself to slightly bury his head in the pile he was in. The ride seemed to be going in a straight direction. The carts didn't make a turn to the left or right.

Henry looked around. The tunnel was narrow with a dark ink river below. He looked down below. Mysterious things would pop up to reveal their little ugly faces. At one point, a large ink shark rose up, rolled to one side, revealed a frightening set of sharp teeth and head back down into the inky river.

Henry shivered. Again, he dreaded going over the ink ocean.

At least the carts were on a railway bridge, so they would be fine.

The walls were dripping in ink. It almost looked like everything was dark. The only lights that gave off illumination were the glowing balls that were hanging on the ceiling.

"I…I can't believe there are railway connections in this warehouse!" said Liam.

"Do you think there might be more than one railway?" asked Harley.

"Unlikely. We haven't found one railway that leads to the surface."

**GgGgGgGgRrRrRrRrOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoAaAaAaAaAaNnNnNnN!**

"What was that?" said Harley, looking around fearfully.

"My stomach," whimpered Henry.

His stomach groaned again, this time softer.

"Oh man," said Harley. "We hadn't eaten anything for a while. We need some food to give us energy."

A light bulb went over Liam's head. "Well…I DO have some food."

"Food?" said Henry.

"What do you have?" asked Harley.

Liam shrugged and took out three cans of bacon soup. Harley looked disappointed.

"Bacon soup," said Harley. "REALLY?"

"C'mon, lady," said Liam, giving her one. "Do you want to live or what?"

Henry took a can from Liam. "Better than nothing."

They popped open their cans and drank the soup. Once they were done, they…threw the cans off their carts. The empty cans fell and splashed into the ink river, apparently sank to the bottom.

"Where did you find those cans?" asked Henry.

"I…I stole some when we were at that soup shelf," explained Liam. "I got one more now, but this should be quick."

"Good," said Harley. "I don't want to keep on drinking that sea water!"

"Wait," said Henry. "I don't think I asked you this question before…"

"What is it?" said Liam.

"…how did you two ended up here?"

"I thought we told you that."

"I don't know. My memories are a bit fuzzy."

Liam shrugged. "I…I don't really know. All I remember was sitting in my room, before hearing a loud explosion and everything went dark."

"Same," said Harley. "All we know was that we woke up in that warehouse."

Henry sighed. "OK then."

Henry turned around. He was hoping that they would make it to the battery in time.

He also hoped that his daughter was OK.

* * *

Barrett struggled to open his heavy eyelids. He felt the pull to fall asleep, but he mustered the strength to slowly open his eyes.

His head was hurting.

His skull felt like it was cracked.

It was dark.

He tried to sit up, but his hands and feet were tied to something, and it was difficult to move.

He didn't know where he was or how long he had been lying there for.

The last thing he remembered was Beast Bendy knocking him out.

He blinked.

He blinked again.

He didn't know where he was.

His vision was blurry, but the images started to become clear.

He was staring at a dark yellow wall stained with ink.

"Huh?" he said.

He looked at his wrists and feet; strapped to thick metal cuffs. He realized that he was on an operating table. Those large tables used in the old times to take the guts out of people.

As far as he could tell, he knew that the only danger he was in at that moment was being attacked by any monster that lurched into the room he was in.

He heard a coo from his left. He saw Quill, locked inside a large black metal cage. The baby looked scared as he sucked his finger.

But what about Tuesday?

Where was she?

Oh no.

"Tuesday?" called Barrett.

No response.

"Tuesday?!" he called louder.

"Hey," said a voice next to him.

Barrett looked on his right to see Tuesday strapped to another table. She didn't look happy.

"Hi there, Barrett," said Tuesday bluntly.

"Just what the hell happened?" said Barrett.

"Well, this beast knocked you out and it even knocked me out. I don't know where we are now. Do you?"

"I don't."

"How did we get here?" said Tuesday, trying to adjust her eyes to the dark.

"I don't know," said Barrett. "But at least we are safe and alive, away from those ink monsters."

"But we must be far away from the Ink Machine! We had the chance to take it down, but instead, you let your curiosity drive you."

Barrett sighed. "I'm sorry. But don't worry. We might find a way to get out of here and-"

"Stop me?" said another voice.

The lights turned on, shining over their bodies. The painful burning sensation caused the two blonde teens to cry out in pain. They saw that they were in a rectangular-shaped room. On the side was…

"Mykrylais?" said Barrett, trying to pronounce the name properly.

Mykrylais smirked. He was leaning on a nearby desk. "It is kind of funny to see that you two lovebirds try to pronounce my name right."

"Wait, what?" said Tuesday dumbly.

"Lovebirds?" said Barrett. "What? No, no, no. We are not lovers. We are not friends."

Mykrylais chuckled and walked between them. He uncomfortably leaned towards Barrett. "I see…how typical of you. That isn't how a man should act."

Barrett was dumbfounded. "What?"

"Don't play dumb. You know how men act these days. They shouldn't back down."

Barrett sneered in disgust. "Beat it."

"Well I'm sure you had some…'fun time' with that pretty woman!" teased Mykrylais evilly. "I wonder if you two had an…intercourse before all of this."

Tuesday blushed in embarrassment and somewhat pleasant of hearing that. Barrett was PISSED.

"N-no!" said Barrett. "S-she is just a friend. Platonic. It doesn't go any further than that!"

"Oh please!" mocked Mykrylais. "Any boy with such a haircut like that knows how to take advantage of it."

Barrett rolled his eyes, showing that this topic was over. "Just get to the point. What do you want with us?"

"Oh! It's just that my second-in-command told me that two sneaking lovebirds came here to stop me. Well, you can't."

"We still can!" yelled Tuesday. "We still can! We just want to save everyone."

"Oh ho, ho, ho!" cackled Mykrylais. "You really love your family and friends, right? Guess what? I…DON'T…CARE! This here, is the ULTIMATE GOD HIMSELF!"

"Ultimate God?!" said Barrett in disgust. "You?!"

"Yes," said Mykrylais, showing them his staff. "The power is in my hands now and nothing can stop it!"

"Why are you doing this?" said Tuesday, nearly crying. "Why do you have to do this? None of these people out there deserved this! The world is filled with innocent people!"

Mykrylais chuckled, before frowning. "Oh, I'm surprised of you, Tuesday. How dense are you? I thought you were always smart in religions when we first met. You see, the world isn't about 'superheroes, rainbows and sunshine' because it ain't. It's about struggle and survival. The strong gets to live while the weak is trampled and perish. I found a way to become the strongest of all, so that I will never be weak again. And it is not only my dream, but my ACQUIREMENT to rule the world! And possibly, the universe!"

Tuesday was taken aback. "Wait…what? You…you know my name? And…we met before?"

Mykrylais froze. He was silent for a while…before sighing in defeat.

"Oops," he said. "I said too much."

"Just…who are you?" asked Barrett. He recognized Mykrylais' voice, his behavior and just discovered the news that Mykrylais knew Tuesday's name.

Mykrylais sighed again. "Don't be surprised, but…"

He took off his hood.

Barrett and Tuesday gasped.

Mykrylais' hair was blonde…wavy…combed to the left. The scelera of his eyes turned white while he gained azure blue eyes. He was around a year younger than Barrett.

"…you don't think it was me all along?"

It was Mitchell.

Mitchell Von Richmond.

**Mitchell** **Von Richmond.**

"M-Mitchell?" said Barrett. "I-It's you?!"

Mitchell glared at Barrett. "Hello, old friend."

"Mitchell," said Tuesday. "I-I…I don't understand."

"You should," said Mitchell bluntly. "The clues that you know about my past should explain it all."

Barrett just froze in his position, still strapped to his table. To think that his old friend – from a long time ago – would become this…this…complete monster. He thought about how Mitchell acted when he was at Brooklyn and slowly formed the pieces. Mitchell was always the troublesome one. He made a lot of rude and sick rap songs. He gained a lot of followers. He won a lot of money. He became one of the most popular boys at school. He didn't take credit for Spider's work. He and Liam posted up mean comments about Spider. And then, Liam attacked Spider, giving the latter a scar.

Barrett had trusted both Mitchell and Liam for a long time. He shouldn't be angry, but he was angry. Not at Liam. Liam was the good one and he didn't mean to join in Mitchell's cyber-bullying. It was Mitchell who did it all. There was something in his icy blue eyes that explained the whole thing. Mitchell's true allegiance was to nobody to himself. He was only interested in power. ABSOLUTE POWER. And if that cost betraying his old friends, then that was a price he was willing to pay. And when he heard Tuesday's recommendation of turning to faith, Mitchell decided to take a step forward, committing black magic. Even endangering a lot of people's lives – including those he NEVER met – was a part of his pure selfish plan. Nothing AND nobody mattered to him.

But to Barrett's surprise, he saw the look on Mitchell's face. He looked disappointed of showing his true identity to Barrett and Tuesday. It must be because that Mitchell didn't want to show his true face since he did not want to be seen as a HUGE traitor to his old friends. There was a look of guilt on Mitchell's face. However, this didn't excuse all the bad things he did in the past.

Not even after he hurt Barrett's younger brother Spider.

Barrett saw red.

"That was a dirty trick," muttered Barrett.

"Excuse me?" said Mitchell, raising an eyebrow.

Barrett let out a screech – bloodcurdling than the ink monsters – as he struggled to get out from his prison, urging to strangle Mitchell.

"YOU B***H!" yelled Barrett. "HOW COULD YOU?! WE TRUSTED YOU! I TRUSTED YOU! MY BROTHER TRUSTED YOU! WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO PUSH YOU TO THIS?! WE WERE SO NICE TO YOU YET YOU TURNED ON US! WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE YOU?!"

Mitchell was unnerved. "Well, you can't blame me for being a jackass. Anyone can be one, so you have my pity."

"When did you start all of this?" asked Tuesday.

"It was at the start of summer when I came back to sunny San Francisco. After losing my SoundCloud account AND my gambling account, I realised that singing songs and winning money won't make me strong. I needed power. Like the gods you told me."

"I never EXPLICITLY said that you have to be a god to be strong," said Tuesday.

"Maybe, but it INSPIRED me to become one. I know that black magic and rituals might be a way to become the greatest of all! I spent months planning this, even though I ignored the rest of my family. It doesn't matter. Liam didn't have the guts to say 'hello' to me after that fight. My rituals were working AND one of them was getting Sammy Lawrence back to life…sadly, he was just stripped apart by the Ink Demon. Whelp, rest in peace. Anyway, I used my adoptive father in one of my rituals, so that I could become THIS."

Barrett and Tuesday gasped.

"Mr Tiffany?!" said Barrett.

"Yes," said Mitchell as he let out small electricity from the palm of his right hand. "It was about time that old man die. I received this power and with THIS, I now have the power to CONTROL the Ink Machine!"

"So you used the Ink Machine to create THIS?!" said Tuesday.

"Half of it," explained Mitchell dryly. "I made an army of ink monsters from the machine to invade and change the world. I used my powers for the other half to shape the world in my own image. I managed to conquer the North American country, but the rest of the world is clean. Which is why I'm working on a NEW one. I just need to figure out how I am going to draw the pentagram which is going to be as LARGE as the main warehouse room! This one will be so GIGANTIC that I will achieve WORLD DOMINATION! This is going to be good."

"Spare me the details," snarled Barrett. "You are hurting a lot of people. And they don't deserve it."

Mitchell gritted his teeth and poked a finger at Barrett's chest. "Oh yes, they do. Because I deserved it. And I no longer have to suffer this pain anymore!"

"But…" said Tuesday. "Is it REALLY you? The tape that we found just now said that you died."

"Well," corrected Mitchell. "I did…BUT not in the most gruesome way. I can't kill me to make myself awesome. Sure yes, I'm still alive, but we know that the old self must die. So on that day I gained these cosmic powers, I gave up my own appearance. I changed my looks. I gave up my face. I let go of the old me; the weak me, so that I could become stronger. Without my weakness, I will be strong, perfect and beautiful. Without YOU TWO and the rest of the weaklings, the strong will get to live. And without YOU around, nobody can hate me. The only reason why I decided NOT to do all of this in the first place was because I had such a blissful life in Brooklyn."

He started to gesture his movements as if mimicking followers.

"Everyone was like…'oh, Mitchell…you are so nice…you are so awesome…I love you…your music rocks…you are the best!'"

His expression darkened.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW **LONG** IT TOOK FOR ME TO GET AN ADULATION?!" yelled Mitchell, stomping his foot and walked up to Barrett. "With these powers, they are mine. The world? It is mine. With the ink monsters? They are mine. They are MY creations. MY army. MY people. They hang onto MY every word. And if you REALLY think that I'm gonna let you take that away from me, you are as EMPTY-HEADED as the rest of them!"

The tone of Mitchell's voice was so bitter and angry that Barrett couldn't help, but shivered in fear. Something didn't look right. The madness could be seen floating up and down in Mitchell's azure blue eyes.

"Mitchell…" said Barrett sweating. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened to me," said Mitchell. "And my name is no longer Mitchell. Call me what you want, but I'm still the **Mighty Mykrylais!**"

Barrett and Tuesday were both silent. They couldn't believe this. At that moment, they remembered how ruthless Mitchell was. At that moment, they knew that he was ready to do the same to them.

"Don't do this," said Barrett. "Is this what Liam wants?"

"Liam no longer matters to me," said Mitchell angrily. "He's gone now. I don't know where he is. He no longer loves me anymore…just like how the world despises me." **[3]**

Just before Barrett asked anything more, the door opened. An ink monster came in.

"Huh?" said Mitchell. "What do you want?"

The ink monster mumbled something.

"OK then," said Mitchell, understanding it. "I'll come and take a look. It better be important. Those three? Just leave them alone. They'll be fine."

Mitchell spun around as the ink monster left. "I wished that I would stick around with you brats, but…there are better things I have to do…and there are better things that are worth waiting for you."

He looked at Tuesday. "Tuesday, I should probably thank you. None of this would happen in the first place if you just shut your b***h mouth up about that bible trash."

Tuesday shuddered in emotion. She looked like she was about to cry.

He started to walk away. Barrett called out.

"What do you want?" growled Mitchell.

"Please," said Barrett. "Don't do this…it won't change who you are…not on the inside…powers…followers…attention…spotlights…they don't make you…you make you…you know better than you know yourself."

Mitchell seemed surprised by this. There was a hope spot, but then he just put his hood back on and his eyes turned back to the devil's eyes.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," said Mitchell. "Honestly, I feel bad about you, but…the world doesn't want weaklings, so…but don't worry. I will make sure that you are perfect. And…I'll do whatever it takes to…seize my moment. I hope you understand."

Mitchell turned around and slammed the door, leaving the three blonde kids all by themselves.

Time would only tell what would happen to them.

* * *

**Elena's POV (around 3 pm)**

This was a surprising turn of events.

One part, we were driving on a bus.

The bus trip was a pretty rocky ride. We had to go through dangerous ink monsters who would try to ram their vehicles into us. Going on the road was pretty dangerous, especially since there were many ink monsters on the land.

But going on a boat? That was a whole new level. I got to say; this was the first time I was on a boat. Or a pirate's boat to be exact. I was quite surprised of how fast this boat could go. After we all hopped on, drove the vehicle into the boat and turned on the engine, the boat sped off in a blazing speed. It was like having ten outboard motors running at full throttle. This was better than driving the bus.

To my surprise, we all didn't fall down due to the speed AND force of the boat. We were all fine and everyone was doing their own thing.

In the middle of the boat was Bendy acting like…a pirate. He was wearing a black pirate hat with a skull symbol, a utility belt and held a long sword.

"YARGH!" he said in a pirate accent. "Hoist the sails! Scrub the poop deck! Find the booty! Let's get scurvy, everyone!"

Jace was the only one put off by this.

"Damn it, Bendy," he said annoyed. "You've been acting like a pirate for the past hour! Can you please just keep it down?"

Bendy swung his sword near Jace. "What is this? Is this an outsider? Yargh, I'll make you walk the plank!"

Jace was confused. "Plank? There are no planks on this-!"

"BEGONE!"

As if to emphasize this, Bendy kicked Jace SO hard that Jace was sent flying into the air. He would have gone overboard the boat, but Laura quickly caught him in the nick of time.

I looked near the boat's cabin. Lucy was sitting on a lounge chair, sunbathing under the sun. She was asleep.

Clyde was leaning against the wall, listening to his music on his phone. He tied his hair up in a bun.

Damien, Alissa and Sven were a complicated board game they brought along.

Pitbull was just sitting on the edge of the boat.

Pitbull was at the wheel, steering the boat.

For me, I was just looking around at the ocean. It was so black and dark. Made from ink. It was bubbling and had steam coming out from it. I could feel the heat from it. And yet, there were no ink monsters swimming around in it. It seemed that this ink ocean was safe…Bendy couldn't say the same. Since he was made from ink, if he jumped into that ocean…let's just say that a drop of water is never seen again in an ocean.

Wait. I missed out on Spider and Draco. Where were they?

"Hey," said Spider, coming up to me along with Draco.

"Hey," I said.

At this, Spider – for the second time – placed his hand onto my shoulder.

"Hey," he said again, this time bolder.

"Hey," I said awkwardly.

Rolling his eyes, Draco slightly slapped Spider on the face.

"Sorry," said Spider blushing.

"Anyway," said Draco. "How are you doing? Are you OK by now?"

"Yeah," I said, looking at my glasses. "I am still processing all of this, but now I feel better. I just wished that there might be a way to fix them.

"Actually," said Spider. "There is."

"How can you exactly fix broken glasses unless you replace it?"

"I have good dexterity. I think I can fix your glasses. I repaired a light bulb without replacing the bulb itself."

I was surprised by this. I wasn't sure if he was being real or bragging, but he sounded like he meant it. I wasn't really convinced that he had good 'dexterity', since…he WAS a bit of a ditz.

"Right…" I said unsure.

I looked at Draco. His face looked a bit…pale. He put his hand up to his mouth.

"Are you all right?" I said. "Your face has gone green."

Draco shrugged. "Could be better."

"At least it's better than going over that gosh damn road there!" said Spider. "There is clearly NOTHING down there!"

Ironically, a large ink shark rose up, rolled to one side, revealed a frightening set of sharp teeth and head back down into the inky river.

I was dumbfounded.

"Maybe," said Draco. "But I'm not sure if they will leave us alone."

"Well this boat is big," I pointed out. "It has a lot of weight and the only thing that can tip this over is the ocean. Currently, this ocean isn't that bad."

I paused for a while. "But…what if…what if we don't make it?"

"Hmm?" hummed Spider.

"What if we don't get to San Francisco in time?"

Draco shook his head. "I'm not so sure."

"You should be. Henry…he is still out there. He is near the Ink Machine. We haven't heard word from him ever since. No one knows if he even stop the Ink Machine. We don't even know what worse will happen. What if we don't get there in time?"

"D-Don't say things like that!" snapped Spider.

I flinched at the sound of his voice.

"My brother Barrett is at San Francisco as well," said Spider. "I can't let him die out there."

"You have his number, right?" I said. "Can you call him?"

Spider placed his hand on his chin. "Well…Lucy and Jace have his number, but he hasn't called us for a while. But still, he must be alive there."

"Or maybe he made it out of the city," pointed out Draco.

"Or maybe he is heading to the Ink Machine!" I said.

"True," continued Spider. "Whatever is happening, we will get there in time. So far, it is just ink spreading through the world gradually. We don't know if there is something huge going to happen. All we know is that the ink is spreading everywhere and we got to stop it. And even if the whole world is consumed, we can still stop the Ink Machine. We are still alive and that's what matters. We are the only ones here that can travel to that heck machine."

I shrugged. "You are onto something. But…we are just kids. Young teens. We have no experience in these sort of things. We never got into this kind of…'war' before."

"Maybe we did," said Spider. "Maybe we didn't. But we must still try. We can't lose hope. We have to still be strong until we can stop that machine. We can't let fear take over."

"He's right," said Draco. "Like I said before; it's not easy to escape, but you can still fight to get the best things in your life. You can't just sit down there in your sorrows forever. We still have to fight for freedom, Elena. Just like what I did. I managed to fight the demons in my past and look at what has become of me. I'm the leader of a group who has been struggling through their lives, but became stronger and wiser than before. If you want to make the world a better place, then you have to try and find a way to do it. Your dreams can't always be waiting for you if you do nothing."

I nodded. "Sorry again. I guess I'm not that positive as you guys."

"Maybe so," said Draco. "But some of us are like you."

I chuckled a bit. "Maybe so."

I had a question in mind. "Spider, where did you get that scar from?"

Spider looked down. "A long time ago…you know Liam…right?"

I faintly remember that name. "Yes?"

"He…he gave me that scar…when trying to protect Mitchell in a fight."

I placed my hands over my mouth. "So…is that why you put make-up all over it?"

Spider blushed. "Yeah…it's not pleasant to remember the bad times."

Spider told me about how he met Mitchell and Liam at Brooklyn. I was surprised. I never knew that they used to be in cahoots with Laura and the others. And knowing Mitchell, it wasn't unexpected to see him get in trouble. At this, I felt pity for Spider.

The boat trip dragged on for another hour. I looked up at the sky. For some reason, it was darkening. The grey clouds were blocking the sun. It looked like as if night was coming.

I noticed how long the boat ride was. With almost nothing to do, I decided to take a nap. However, because I was wary of the danger outside, I couldn't bring myself to sleep. So, I decided to walk around the boat.

Bendy continued to act like a pirate. Apparently, for the past two hours, he was singing a long pirate ditty. To my surprise, his voice was good. He still wore that dirty pirate hat and held that sword. He was dancing around the boat in a girly-like walk. This time, Spider and Lucy joined along, those two wearing pirate hats as well.

"A pirate's life is a life for me!" those three sang. "Yah, ha, ha, ha! A pirate's life is a life for me! Yah, ha, ha, ha! A pirate's life is a life for me! Yah, ha, ha, ha! A pirate's life is a life for me! Yah, ha, ha, ha! A pirate's life is a life for me! Yah, ha, ha, ha! A pirate's life is a life for me! Yah, ha, ha, ha!"

I spotted Jace putting his hands over his ears. His face was bright red and contorted in disgust. "Somebody please kill me…"

I looked over to see Damien taking a nap on Lucy's lounge chair. He looked worn out and extremely tired.

Clyde decided to climb onto the crow's nest of the sails. I watched as he nervously climbed up the ladder before making it to the basket. He sat in the crow's nest, overlooking the ocean.

I spotted Alissa using a laptop. Sven on the side, kept on saying…

"Are we there yet?" he said. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Alissa tried to ignore him, but failed.

"Damn it," she said as looked over her computer.

"Are we there yet?" repeated Sven. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" **[4]**

Alissa was getting mad. Her eye was twitching and looked like she was about to kill Sven. Eventually, she snapped.

CRASH!

"SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH UP!" she yelled as she strangled Sven.

I watched as the two eventually broke out into a fight. I sweat dropped. Their fighting didn't look too bad…only pitiful.

I walked up to the poop deck to see Laura on the wheel while Pitbull sat on a crate. Draco was using a microscope to search for land. Spider was looking, hanging onto the bars.

"How is it?" I asked Laura.

"This is actually good," said Laura, turning the wheel a bit. "Boat riding seems to be a good activity."

"Have you ever rode a ship before?"

Laura thought for a while. "…no."

"Hey guys!" called Clyde. "I think I see land!"

"What?" said Laura.

BAM!

The boat suddenly stopped. We all fell down. Even Clyde nearly fell off the basket.

"ARGH!" screamed Clyde, his body falling off.

"Are you OK?" asked Damien, waking up.

Clyde chuckled nervously, hanging onto the basket. He managed to swing towards the ladder and climbed down to the main deck.

"How come our boat stopped?" said Bendy, snapping out from the pirate fever.

"Didn't you see that there?" said Clyde flatly, pointing in front of us.

We all looked in front. It turned out, the boat had accidentally crashed into a mountain. There was a beach and grass hills ahead. However, the whole place was nearly covered in ink.

"What?" Laura said as she took a good look at the land.

"Where are we?" said Lucy.

"Look," said Clyde, pointing upwards.

We noticed something seen behind those hills. Somewhat a building. Actually, there were red towers connected to each other by red stable wires. They were slightly covered in ink.

"Is that…?" said Draco.

"The Golden Gate Bridge!" said Sven.

"That means…we're at San Francisco!" said Spider, smiling.

"We made it!" said Laura.

"We still have to get to the city," said Jace. "Henry said that he is near the Ink Machine, but because it was stolen from that gallery, we have no idea where it is."

"But isn't it at the warehouse?" said Clyde as if the answer was obvious.

"Oh…right. I knew that."

"If we can get to the warehouse," said Laura. "We can find my father and shut down the Ink Machine for good."

"I hate to burst your bubble," said Bendy. "But it's almost impossible to get through the city."

"Yeah, right," scoffed Alissa.

"No! Seriously. Since the source of the problem is here, we don't know how many ink monsters are crawling around."

"He's right," said Draco. "But we still have that bus with us. We can use it to get across the monsters. And hopefully, we may be able to pick up any survivors – including Barrett – on the way."

"But that bus is nowhere as strong as the 'Gold Strap'," I said. "They will tear the bus apart!"

"Not if we don't get caught."

"We have little time," said Damien. "Let's head into the bus and drive into the city. We got to be careful of the monsters. If we want to get to the Ink Machine before the ink gets to the rest of the world, we have to act fast."

"Let's go then," said Sven.

I watched as everyone walked off the main deck to start up the bus. I saw Laura still standing in her spot.

"Laura?" I said. "Are you OK?"

"Sorry," said Laura. "I hope that Dad is still alive."

"Whatever happens, we can still stop the Ink Machine."

"OK then. Don't worry, Dad. Just hold on a little longer. We're coming."

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Henry nearly dozed off if it wasn't for the carts stopping. His head bumped into the side of the cart.

"Where are we now?" muttered Henry.

"HEY!" said a voice. "Get your asses there right now!"

Henry broke into a cold sweat. He poked his head out from the pile of gems. What he saw was a long hallway connected to the tunnel. There were a few shadows appearing around the corner.

"Henry!" whispered Liam. "Get out of there!"

Henry hiccuped and jumped down the cart he was on. He saw Liam and Harley hiding behind a wall, away from the hallway. He followed them.

The trio watched from the distance to see three men walking towards the carts. One of them had a unique suit. This one was wearing a completely black suit along with a black beret covered in ink. This man seemed to be around Liam's age as well. He had dark brown skin, silver eyes and black and silver dreadlocks tied in a ponytail.

"C'mon," said the dreadlock-haired man as he got to the carts. "These gems won't carry themselves."

"Huh?" said Harley. "Is that?"

"Griffin!" said Liam.

"Another friend of yours?" said Henry.

Liam inhaled sharply. "Not really."

They watched as Griffin and the two remaining guys picked up the gems and walked off into the hallway.

"Let's go," said Henry.

Henry, Harley and Liam entered the hallway, sneaked behind. This hallways was connected to other hallways. They followed Griffin, trying not to be seen by any slaves or ink monsters.

"Wow," said Liam at one of their stops. "I noticed that these hallways look so…fancy."

He had a point. The walls of the hallways were pressed golden with black swirl patterns. The floors were solid white, lighting up the whole hallway. There wasn't a stain of ink.

At one point, they saw a door closing. It was blocking the hallway they were in.

"Oh no," said Henry.

The trio ran, hoping to get through the door before it closed.

Henry was the first to get through…

…and the door closed in.

Henry grunted as he felt the door squeezed his body. However, to his surprise, he was surprised that the door didn't push him further. It was at a point that it couldn't close or wouldn't open.

It was stuck.

Henry's whole body was blocking it.

The door didn't budge to move.

"Eh…" said Henry. "What's going on?"

"I thought the door would squeeze you to death," said Harley.

"I think it is from the chemicals," said Liam.

Henry was surprise. "The chemicals?"

He had forgotten about them for a while and didn't realise that they could PROTECT him from any harm.

"I guess that now I have the strength of an elephant," said Henry, wiggling around.

He managed to wiggle his way out from the door. Using the gaps, he pushed the door open. Harley and Liam smiled as they went through.

"Guess that being an elderly man has his advantages," said Liam.

"Again," said Henry slightly annoyed. "I'm not THAT old."

They continued on. Eventually, they stopped and hid behind a corner. Peeking around, they saw a large circle metal door. Griffin was there along with the two other slaves. And also…

"Please sir!" said one of the slaves. "I swear that we didn't do it!"

"Oh really?!" said a caped figure near them. "Then why do you try to steal some of my books? Do you know how important I need them to make rituals?!"

"Who is THAT guy?" whispered Henry, pointing to the caped figure.

"I believe that is this… Mykrylais guy," said Harley. "By the looks on his face, he seemed to be the mastermind of all this."

Liam stayed silent. He…he…he recognized Mykrylais' voice.

"I swear!" said one of the slaves. "It was him!"

"Me?!" said the second slave. "I swear it wasn't me! I didn't know any stolen books!"

Mykrylais sighed in annoyance. "Griffin. Care to tell who did it?"

Griffin – on the other hand – didn't take part of the conversation. He was just leaning on the wall next to the circle door. He rolled his eyes and muttered;

"I don't know," he said. "I don't care. Must be them."

Mykrylais stared at the other two slaves. "Oh well. Don't worry. This will be painless…for me."

At this, he raised his staff and the two slaves floated up, their bodies flickering in a strange colour. Griffin just stood there, there was a slight fear in his eyes.

The two slaves screamed at the top of their lungs. They felt their bodies changing…their bones twisting and expanding…their muscles swelling…and their mind becoming smaller. As everyone expected, they became hideous ink monsters.

Henry bit his lips. Those two slaves didn't deserve to have that.

"Now," said Mykrylais. "Would you please look after the miners back in Mine Shaft #9?"

The ink monsters nodded like obedient dogs before running off into another hallway. Mykrylais looked at Griffin.

"See?" he said. "This is what happens if you try to break the rules."

"As if I will," grumbled Griffin. "No one is afraid of breaking your dumbass rules."

Mykrylais growled a bit before grabbing Griffin's hand. "Don't say things like that, Griff. Do I need to remind you who OWNS you AND who can TAKE AWAY YOUR POWERS from you in an instant?"

Griffin didn't react to this. "Oh really? Intimidation? The other slaves might be foolish to bow before you, but you know that I…serve…NO ONE. You just force me into your own pity work for 2 days."

"Maybe you will bow to me…" snarled Mykrylais. "…after I change you…"

Again, there was a glimmer of ear in Griffin's silver eyes, but they eventually hardened.

Mykrylais let go. "Now, Griffin. As an amazing leader, I'll tell you what; continue to guard this treasure room, make sure that nobody steals anything and if they do…it's execution for everyone."

Griffin made no reply.

Mykrylais turned around. "I'll give you some truffle mash potato if you do well!"

Griffin rolled his eyes. "I know you won't."

"Maybe I will today."

And Mykrylais disappeared out of sight.

"Dear God," said Harley. "I can't believe that guy criticise these people like that. What kind of boss he is?"

"He's a monster," said Henry. "Through and through. We need to take him down."

Liam was silent.

"Liam?" whispered Harley.

Liam yelped. "Oh…what?! Oh…sorry."

Unfortunately, Griffin heard this.

"Huh?" said Griffin, seeing those three peeking over the corner. "Who's there?"

Henry, Harley and Liam hid.

"Oh crap," said Henry.

"I can see you," said Griffin, his grip on his spear tightening. "Come out or I'll come to see you. Just calmly move to the side."

Henry, Harley and Liam were inclined to run, but upon seeing a shadow around the corner nearby, they hesitantly showed themselves to Griffin.

Griffin gasped, dropping his spear.

"L-Liam?" he said. "Is…is that you?"

Liam nodded.

"Y-you are not working for Mykrylais, are you?"

Liam shook his head.

Griffin noticed Henry. "H-Henry Stein, isn't it?"

Henry nodded.

They all heard a growl nearby.

"Come quickly," said Griffin.

Henry, Harley and Liam were reluctant to do so, but they did. When they got close to Griffin, a large ink monster appeared on the other end. It snarled upon seeing the sight of three people wearing casual clothes.

"Don't fret," said Griffin calmly. "I just found them. I'll deal with them and send them to the mines once I get the information out of them. Say nothing about this."

The ink monster stood still for a while…before turning around and left.

"You are one smooth charmer," muttered Liam. "Like always."

Griffin rubbed his head. "Just get to the point, what are you doing here? If anyone knows about this, you'll be killed!"

"We don't have time here," said Henry hastily. "We…we need something."

"What is it?"

"…we need something from the treasure room," explained Harley. "It's…this battery."

Griffin was shocked. He remembered seeing a battery in the treasure room and they were after it?

"Sorry," said Griffin bluntly. "I'm afraid not."

Liam sighed. "Sorry…I'm not asking. We NEED it."

"I wouldn't stress about it."

At this, Griffin pushed his hand towards Liam's chest. A loud shock-wave boomed from Griffin's hand and absorbed into Liam. Liam collapsed onto the floor. **[5]**

"What the-?" said Henry only to be pushed by Griffin.

"Hey!" yelled Harley, but she was pushed to the floor as well.

The three groaned in pain as they got up. They saw that…their…bodies looked transparent.

To their horror, they saw an ink monster running towards them. They braced themselves, but…the ink monster ran through them.

"What?" said Henry confused.

"What did he…?" said Liam.

Griffin opened up his palm and electricity could be seen dancing on it.

"W-what?" said Harley. "You…you have powers?"

Griffin looked down. "Mykrylais gave them to me. I don't want them."

Henry was surprised. "Can you use them to-?"

"No. I'm not that powerful as Mykrylais."

"What did you do to us?" said Liam.

"Just a simple touch. I just turned your bodies into astral forms. You are completely invisible to the outside world while I am the only one who can see you. Now let's talk. My answer? Still no."

"C'mon," said Henry. "Please."

"I'm sorry. I…I can't."

"Why not?" questioned Liam.

Griffin was silent for a while. Liam swore that he saw something he had never seen before.

Griffin looked like he was about to cry. "My father was killed."

Henry, Harley and Liam gasped.

"What?" said Liam.

"Yeah," said Griffin nearly breaking down. "My father is killed and if I screw this job up, my mother is next! I…I don't want to lose my only family."

Henry placed his invisible hand onto Griffin's shoulder. "Then we will make sure that nothing will happen to your family."

"Besides," said Liam. "Victoria and Diana said that the battery may have a lot of power, but it is useless, right?"

Griffin was surprised. "Well…yes. Mykrylais described it as powerful but dead. Stupid him; he decided to leave it in here, not caring what is going to happen to it…"

"Then let us take it," said Henry.

"I'm afraid not," said Griffin, glaring at Liam. "Especially if asking THAT brat."

Liam was taken aback. "ExCUSE you?!"

"You can't take away the fact that YOU…ARE…MITCHELL'S…BROTHER!"

Henry was dumbfounded. "Wait…did Mitchell…?"

"He did," said Griffin grimly. "He was always troublesome and loved to pick on me. He called me this stupid 'black boy'. Just what is his problem? I didn't do ANYTHING to him? Even once, he broke my sister's favorite necklace. That meant a lot to my sister. And how does Liam fits in? HE saw the whole thing. HE saw what happened. And yet, he refused to step up!"

Liam looked down. "I didn't do so, because I thought I would never be responsible of Mitchell again."

"No. You're only doing this because you want to save your OWN SKIN, isn't it?"

Silence.

"OK," said Liam. "I'm sorry. Please accept my apology."

Griffin gritted his teeth. "Why would I forgive you when YOU FAILED TO STOP YOUR BROTHER FROM DOING ALL OF THIS?! Didn't you know that he chose to let all this crap happen? ENSLAVE many people?! KILL many people?! MADE himself a god? Let the world DIE?!"

Liam was shocked. "What? What are you talking about? Mitchell is gone."

"He is not. He…is…**Mykrylais**."

Everything went silent.

Henry, Harley and Liam were shocked.

But it was Liam who was impacted the most.

What Griffin said went into Liam's mind. Liam couldn't ignore it. It felt as if the whole world was crushing him.

So…the whole time…after Mitchell seduced Ruby…he watched a lot of rude shows…faked being a friend…made a lot money…became a rap star…sent out a lot of fake rumors…and now…he became this sick god?

Mykrylais…Mitchell…the same person…who…destroyed many lives…turned the warehouse into hell…used the Ink Machine…destroyed towns…and enslaved people…and he was LIAM'S brother.

Liam was speechless.

Harley was close to tears. "B-but why?"

"I don't know," said Griffin angrily. "Maybe he wanted revenge?"

Liam was close to tears…but no tears came out. Why?

He realized that the whole thing was all part of Mitchell's plan for power.

ABSOLUTE POWER.

"Then we will stop him," said Liam determined.

Griffin's mouth opened. "What?"

"I said that we will stop him! Did you hear me? If you really hate Mitchell, then why do you have to work for him? I know that he would try to kill your family, but since he doesn't know that we are trying to stop him, do you think he will noticed that a battery is missing? Again, I'm sorry for not sticking up for you. I know that I would often say the wrong things, but I see you as one of the greatest students I know. Helpful…diligent…smart. It is your choice to choose what you want. If you have to choose, will you be silent while Mitchell destroys our world…or will you stand up for everyone?"

Griffin was silent. He took time to absorb in the words. He finally came to conclusion. "OK then."

He stepped aside. "I'll help you."

He opened the treasure room door. What Henry saw was amazing. It was a large room filled with golden coins, jewelry and expensive things. Everything was so rare…shiny…golden…and…impressive.

Henry spotted the battery. It was large…sturdy…and dark green. It was the same shape as the slot in the elevator! He went into the room and trudged through the coins. He reached the battery, picked it up and walked out.

"I got it," said Henry.

"Fine," said Griffin, closing the door. "Unfortunately, like I said before, I'm not as powerful as Mitchell. Your ghost states won't last for long. Once you're far away from me, they will turn off in about 30 to 45 minutes time."

"OK then," said Harley. "And hopefully…we may talk to Mitchell. Maybe we can talk him into some sense."

"I'm not sure if he will listen. He listens to NO ONE. At all. Even if you remove him from his powers, he is too arrogant to hear your pleas. He needs to be stopped – once and for all."

Liam sighed. "You got a point, but…I AM responsible for Mitchell. This is all my fault."

"You did nothing wrong," said Henry.

"Clearly, but I should have looked after him better in the first place."

"But…we can't just take him out," said Harley.

Griffin shook in anger. "H-he deserves what's coming to him. He will pay for killing my father. Mitchell killed a lot of people and don't let me tell you how many friends he destroyed. I wasn't there to save them and I didn't do anything to stop him. I should have leaped on that day, but with you three, you should make him pay. Avenge all who had fallen."

Liam felt sorry for Griffin. Even though Griffin could be a bit hard sometimes, he was still young like Liam. They were just young kids wanting to be free.

There was one thing Liam could do.

"Here," said Liam, taking out the remaining bacon soup can from his pocket. "I stole a few of these. Now…you should have the last one."

Griffin was surprised by this. "No…no…I don't deserve it."

"I INSIST."

Griffin was surprised of Liam's generosity. Reluctantly, Griffin took it.

"Thanks," said Griffin. "Much better than eating prison gruel."

"It's my 'thank you' for helping us," said Liam.

Griffin managed to make a small smile. "Thanks for…understanding."

Harley placed a hand onto the dreadlock-haired boy. "We will make sure we will end all of this."

Griffin nodded. He looked at Henry. "Henry…please be careful of Beast Bendy. He's…he's actually Joey Drew."

Henry nodded. "I know. Victoria told me."

The moment was cut off when a loud scream could be heard. They all looked to their left.

"Oh no…" said Henry.

They saw a woman being bitten by an ink monster. She screamed loudly as pain inflicted all over her body. Blood could be seen dripping from the bite. Eventually, the woman started to…change.

They watched in horror as the woman slowly turned into an ink monster.

That ink monster let out a blood-curdling roar.

"Please hurry," begged Griffin.

* * *

**AN: And our main villain is revealed! It's Mitchell Von Richmond! To those who guessed him as the bad guy, congratulations. Yes. HE is the 'Mighty Mykyrlais'. To those who didn't know that he is the antagonist, his 'God' name has the first letter to his real name, foreshadowing that Mitchell is behind the entire ink invasion.**

**Also, Elena was once friends with Liam and Mitchell. Quite surprising, isn't it? Because of Mitchell's behavior, Elena started to become uncomfortable towards boys. **

**[1] This idea is based on _'Poor Little Souls'_ by Shadowfang14. This is pretty a disturbing scene, so for those who are concerned about this, please let me know.**

**[2] Remember the human victim used as a dummy for Beast Bendy in Chapter 3? Yep, that's the guy. Sorry if I was being a bit too harsh.**

**[3] Because he forgot about Liam, Mitchell believed that he is dead; unaware that Liam is trying to stop him.**

**[4] This technique is called 'Wasting The Readers' Time'. I thought this might add a bit of humor to this.**

**[5] Remember this, anyone? This comes from Avengers: Endgame.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you enjoy this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The question of this chapter: Because Joey Drew turned into a monster, what are your guesses on how he will act in this inky state?**

**Until next time, stay tune and I will see you all in the next chapter!**


	10. 9 - Shots and Cuts

**AN: I'm back and here is the latest chapter! We are getting close to the end.**

**Another warning I like to make; there will be one bloody scene in this. Be aware and know that what you may see can be highly disturbing. **

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Shots and Cuts**

Barrett and Tuesday thrashed around helplessly, trying to break free. However, the metal cuffs kept them locked to the table. Their hands and feet were caught in those restraints. They were stuck.

Quill was still locked in the cage. He was sucking on his thumb. Being SO young, locked inside a cage while watching his older sister tried to break free in a creepy, dark and isolated warehouse was too much for him to bare that he started crying hysterically.

"Gah…" said Tuesday, watching Quill bawling his eyes out. "I…I can't even reach him!"

Barrett stopped moving. He looked down. Both of them couldn't get out. They were strapped to the tables and Quill was stuck in that damn cage. And Quill would keep on crying non-stop. The only danger they were in was that Quill's crying would alert any ink monsters nearby and they would be slain. And if they were able to escape, they might not be able to get to Mitchell in time. He would do the ritual and the world would be doomed.

But he racked his brain to find a way to get out. They couldn't die. They had so much to live for!

Tuesday stopped moving around. She was on the urge to cry.

"T-this is all my fault," said Tuesday sadly.

"This isn't your fault," said Barrett.

"It is…I…I was the one who told Mitchell to turn to faith. I was the one who told Mitchell about God. I was the one who influenced him about religious beliefs. I was the one who told him…all of these things. If…if only I didn't tell him so…he wouldn't do something like this!"

"It's not wrong," said Barrett. "You get the choice to believe in something or not. For Mitchell, yes, you could have explained to him clearly, but you didn't know at the time, right? Besides, Liam turned to faith and looked at what he became."

"Yeah…but…but Mitchell took everything too far…we…we failed to get to the Ink Machine…"

Barrett was silent for a while. "I would blame myself too for this."

Tuesday whipped her head around to face him. "What do you mean?"

"I felt like I'm responsible for Mitchell too. I was the one who started that fight. I was the one who wanted to kill Mitchell. And now, look at what happened…even without me taking murderous intentions…Mitchell still would try to rule the world. I could have asked him why he bullied my brother."

Barrett paused for a while. "What happened in the past doesn't matter now. It's still not too late. There must be a way for us to get out of here!"

"There's no key," said Tuesday. "Even if we get freed, our 'saviors' won't be nice to us."

"Listen. I might not know you on a personal level, but so far, I saw you as this head-strong, quirky and agile girl. You faced on those ink monsters, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Then do it again! You're here, right? At least we are STILL close to the Ink Machine!"

"But…we are still young, right?"

"We are. But adults are flawed as well, right?"

Tuesday nodded sadly.

"Everyone fails at sometimes," explained Barrett. "You did, but it doesn't matter now. Even if Mitchell is powerful, nobody can live up to a god. Not even himself. As long as we keep on moving to what we want to succeed. You said before that I have to keep going. I was scar ed, but you said that we have to 'keep our spirits high'. It's what you want, right?"

Tuesday understood, but sadly, the fact that they were stuck didn't help. "But…there is nowhere for us to go."

CREEK!

The door opened. Barrett and Tuesday looked over. There was…Sammy Lawrence. He was twitching violently and spazzing out of control. He was in a bad shape. He had ink dripping from his body and his mask was gone, revealing his face. His eyes were glowing white that sometimes flickered with a strange swirling pattern in his eyes.

Even Quill quieted down upon seeing Sammy.

"What the heck?" said Barrett.

"**M-Must…a-appease the gods…**" muttered Sammy as he waddled over to the two blonde teens. "**Must…appease t-t-the gods…m-must appease the gods…**"

It got worse from there.

"**M-must…appease the gods…must appease the gods…must appease the gods…must appease the gods. Must appease the gods. Must appease the gods. Must appease the gods! Must appease the gods! Must appease the gods! Must appease the gods! MUST APPEASE THE GODS! MUST APPEASE THE GODS! MUST APPEASE THE GODS! MUST APPEASE THE GODS! MUST APPEASE THE GODS! MUST APPEASE THE GODS!**"

At this, he slammed his fist onto Barrett's table. Barrett quickly ducked his head before Sammy's fist met his teeth. Sammy then grabbed a nearby ax. Being trapped in an inky body two times was bad enough, but being attacked by an ink monster two times? That was enough to push him to the edge. Fueled by paranoia and anger, Sammy already lost his complete sanity and only had these sadistic thoughts.

**Kill.**

"**You lied to me!**" said Sammy as he raised his ax upwards. "**You said I'd be free. Well, I'm going to free you now. Free your head right off your shoulders! Sheep, sheep, sheep…it's time…for SLEEP!**"

Just before Sammy could swing the ax down, something impaled him from behind. Right through the heart. He made some strangled noises…before the sword was removed. He collapsed onto the floor, melting into an ink puddle.

"That should take care of him," said a female voice.

Both Barrett and Tuesday gasped at the sight of this;

In front of them was a humanoid creature. She was female and seemed to be around adult years. She had black hair tied up in a ponytail with side-way bangs, sports a pair of broken horns, wore a headband, a black dress with straps and a brown stain over it, a belt with an attached messenger bag, black tights and black boots. Her hands were covered in ink resembling black opera gloves.

And her voice didn't sound twisted.

"W-who are you?" stuttered Barrett.

The woman didn't make a word. She just took the metal cuffs off Barrett's and Tuesday's hands and feet, allowing the two teens to be free.

"Thanks," said Barrett. "But a warning would be much better."

Tuesday opened the cage and got out Quill. At the sight of her sister, Quill calmed down and nuzzled into her chest.

"Who are you?" asked Tuesday. "Why did you save us?"

The woman looked down. "I'm…I'm not like the others. I was just a girl…who worked for Joey Drew."

Tuesday's eyes widened up in recognition. "A-Allison Pendle?"

"Yes."

Allison grabbed Barrett's hand. "C'mon. We gotta move?"

"What are you doing?" said Barrett, wary of Allison.

"Taking you to safety."

Allison led the two teens out of the room. They ran along the hallways, trying to find a safe place quick.

"Why did you decide to save us?" wondered Barrett. "Aren't you under Mykrylais' control?"

"Not really," said Allison. "As I was once in THIS state before, I had my own free mind. I managed to escape from that demon's clutches and made my way to find the slaves."

"What are you planning to do?" asked Tuesday.

"We are going to start a revolution."

"A rebellion!" chirped Tuesday.

Quill cooed happily.

"We need to take Mitchell down once and for all!" said Barrett in cold determination.

Allison looked at Barrett. "Who's Mitchell?"

Barrett was silent for a while. The words felt heavy to his mouth. "An ex-friend. He was the one who did all of this. Disguised as Mykrylais."

Allison nodded. "Like Joey, he went crazy with power."

Barrett's eyes narrowed. "Either I talk Mitchell out of this or destroy that Ink Machine."

"Or make him pay!" said Tuesday excitedly. "Pay! Right?"

"Don't get too excited, girl."

* * *

"OK," said Henry as they got back to the elevator. "We're back."

"This was easier than I thought," said Liam. "…despite having to talk my friends out of it."

"I thought you said that they are just your acquaintances."

Liam shrugged.

"Does the battery with this?" said Harley. "Put it in."

Henry nodded and took out the battery from his coat. He placed it in the slot. It fit perfectly. He turned on the power button and the elevator turned on.

The elevator started to shake as its wires came to life and the lights brightened up for the first time.

"That works," said Harley.

The intercom started talking.

"_Please select a level you want to go to._"

"Huh," said Liam impressed. "That fancy."

Henry looked at the control panel. His eyes were targeted to Level 0 – the highest level of all. It seemed to lead them to the surface.

"One ride to the surface here we come," said Henry, pressing the button.

The doors started to close slowly. Out of the blue, a hiss could be heard.

**HHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS…**

"What was that?" said Liam.

It wasn't coming from the intercom.

**SsSsSsCcCcRrRrRrRrEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeCcCcCcHhHhHh!**

It was the Ink Demon.

Running towards them.

Henry screamed.

The lights started flickering.

The hallway started to drip in ink.

Just before the Ink Demon came towards them…

…the doors finally closed.

WHAM!

There was a bang on the other side. The demon accidentally hit the shut door…followed by what seemed to be it falling and hitting the floor.

Henry sighed in relief. "Phew, that was close."

The elevator started to take them up.

"Uh…Harley?" said Liam. "You can let go now."

Harley noticed that she was hugging Liam when the Ink Demon nearly attacked them.

"Oh," said Harley, letting go. "Um…sorry."

Liam rolled his eyes, blushing.

Henry looked up. "I just hope that we will make it."

They stood in their spots as they waited to head to the surface level.

"Uh…" said Henry. "Liam?"

"Yeah?" said Liam.

"Are you…OK?"

"Why's that?"

"…it's just that the news that…Mitchell is behind all of this…was…so…devastating."

Liam was silent. "It is…yeah…but…it was kind of expected."

"How can you tell?" said Harley.

"Well…HE was the one who did those rituals. HE was the one who went nuts. HE was the one who wished that the world would burn. Like I predicted before…it was my brother's doing."

"You only said that because you knew that Mitchell started all of this," pointed out Henry.

"Yeah. But I was afraid of saying that he is still alive and doing all this damage. It's my fault."

"It's not your fault," said Harley.

"I should have looked after my brother. I should have protected him. I should have told him about what is right and what is wrong. I shouldn't turn my back on him and now look at where this leads to. He already hurt a lot of people ten times then he did before and I couldn't stop him. He is out of his head already and there's nothing to do to change his mind. Lucy…Lucy told me to promise to take care of my brother…but…I only care less on that promise."

"But we can show him how bad this invasion was, can we?" asked Harley.

Liam shook his head. "I…I don't think so. I can't stop him. Not anymore. Ever since I turned the cold shoulder to him, he won't listen. He needs to be stopped."

"If only if it gets to that point," said Henry. "Maybe."

"There is no 'maybe'," muttered Liam. "It's only 'yes' or 'no' from his damn mouth. There won't be a 'maybe'."

Henry placed a hand onto Liam's shoulder.

"Just to let you know," said Henry. "You did well, Liam."

"How in the world am I good, Henry?" questioned Liam. "This mess is partly my fault. Ruby is scared of me, my friends in Brooklyn hates me now, Spider is traumatized from me attacking him and I am already done with Laura. So in what sense did I do well?"

"I don't know. Proving that you can go through the warehouse was pretty cool. That is rare for a young boy like you to brave the dangers of a haunted warehouse."

Liam shrugged sadly. "I guessed."

"And since you're the closest to Mitchell, I think you will be able to reach out to the last piece of goodness in him."

"You really think so?"

"Then why did he moved that garden he made here? Why did he make that letter?"

Liam looked down and thought about it. The garden was a gift for him and Mitchell decided to keep it for him, so that the flowers would stay fresh. So maybe, Mitchell DID feel guilty about what he caused.

"I guess so," said Liam solemnly. "But I'm not sure if he changing will excuse all the things he did."

"You're right," said Harley. "But we can try to get him to understand. That's what matters more."

Liam nodded.

The elevator stopped. Henry looked at the control panel. The arrow was pointing at Level 0.

"We are on the surface now," said Henry. "Let's go."

They got out of the elevator. They found themselves in a hallway.

"Wait a minute," said Harley. "I remember this!"

"You do?" said Henry.

"Yeah. Sorry if I haven't told you, but I came to this warehouse before. I found the elevator at this place. I think it will be easier to track down where the pentagram is."

"Cool," said Henry.

"Let's do this," said Liam.

The trio made their way through the surface level. They had to go through a hallway with no floor and had to use planks to get across. Good grief that none of the planks broke. There were some vents to get to certain rooms. They ended up stuck in another maze-like corridors. The whole journey was frightening, but at least there were no monsters. Walking through the dark was better than walking through the dark with MONSTERS.

They came across a hallway with a glass window. All of a sudden, Henry stopped.

"Quiet," whispered Henry.

"What?" said Harley.

"Don't make any noise."

Before Liam could ask why, they saw on the other side of the window was…the Ink Demon. It was just walking through the hallway on the other side of the window. Its sickly body was leaking ink. Henry stared at the monster in horror. Again, he had the same nausea feeling when he saw THAT demon many times. He remembered that everything that abomination would pop up, the walls and ceilings would drip in ink, the lights would flicker, whispers could be heard and everything was darkening. He felt his heart beating, the adrenaline flowing through his veins and sweat coming down his body. It would be nicer if Bendy was around to support him.

Before, that thing was Joey Drew. Now, Joey Drew was NOT that ink demon. He turned into…someone else.

After what must be the longest hour ever, the Ink Demon finally disappeared.

"That was close," said Henry.

"Is the Ink Demon heading the same way as we are?" asked Liam.

Harley shivered. "I doubt that."

They continued to walk through the hallway and there was a turn in the hall. They stopped when they saw a word written on the walls.

_DEATH._

Unlike the other messages, this one wasn't written in ink.

It was in blood.

ACTUAL blood.

Red blood.

Dried blood.

Human blood.

"Oh…my…gosh…" said Harley.

"Something doesn't look right here," said Mitchell.

They walked on, ignoring that written message.

They came across a door. Henry opened it.

What they saw made their mouths dropped.

They were back in that same room.

The room with that stage with the spotlights and the velvet curtains.

The room with the Ink Machine.

The room with the pentagram.

Speaking of the pentagram, it was still in the center of the room. It was glowing a strange white color. The candles were lit, but they had…blue flames.

"There it is," said Henry. "The pentagram."

"Once it's done," said Harley. "Everything is done."

"Uh…guys?" said Liam.

"What?" asked Henry.

Liam couldn't speak. He could only point. He was pointing to something that was hanging on the ceiling.

Hanging from the ceiling was a leg – that SEEMED to be cut off from the human body – covered in ink stains. That was the only remain of Beast Bendy's first target.

"OK…that is…disturbing," said Henry nervously.

"Oh no," said Harley. "Something happened here."

"I think it's from…him," said Liam.

He was referring to…the thing that was on the stage.

It was Beast Bendy. Henry gasped. He was surprised by how big and muscular it was than the last time. At that moment, he saw a new-grown tail. The beast let out a lazy lawn as it sat on the stage.

Victoria said that Beast Bendy was actually Joey Drew. Henry started to hope that Joey would…recognise them. Wouldn't attack them. But…at much as Henry would hate to admit it…Joey was no longer in control of himself.

MITCHELL was controlling him. Joey Drew was the monster again, who was corrupted by – not power this time – anger and savagery.

Henry gulped.

"This is bad," said Harley. "We need to get out of here."

"Don't worry," said Liam. "We are invisible for now. That thing can't see OR hear us."

"But it won't be for long. Our astral state will stop in only a few minutes!"

"Then we must be quick."

They ran towards the pentagram. To their surprise, the beast didn't notice or heard them. All Beast Bendy saw was nothing in the room.

"OK," said Harley to Henry. "May you do the honors?"

"One step ahead of you," said Henry.

He took out the large bottle of acetone. He slowly popped the lid off and poured an amount of acetone onto the pentagram.

This caused a HUGE smear on the floor drawing.

Henry put the cap back on the bottle, just in case.

Suddenly, the part where the acetone was spilled on…starting to glow red.

KABOOM!

This caused a huge explosion. Henry, Harley and Liam were thrown back. The acetone bottle flew into the air and rolled onto the floor. It stopped when it hit the wall.

"Ow…" groaned Henry.

"What the hell?" said Liam.

The three got up. What they saw, there was a LARGE part of the pentagram missing from the center, but the rest of the pentagram was still glowing.

"We need to erase that thing off COMPLETELY," said Liam. "Get that bottle of acetone."

"But…how come the pentagram exploded when I placed the acetone on the ink there?" said Henry as he rubbed his face.

He froze.

His hand was in front of his eyes.

It was…VISIBLE.

Not transparent.

No longer in a ghost form.

THE POWERS HAD WORN OFF.

"Oh no," muttered Henry.

At that moment, Beast Bendy saw them.

The beast immediately stood up and let out a roar at the three humans.

Harley screamed.

Liam curled up his fists.

"**OH HELL NAW!**" yelled Beast Bendy, before pointing a finger at the trio. "**It's time for you to DIE!**"

Harley gasped in horror…before dropping to the floor like a dead fly.

Silence filled the air.

Henry and Liam looked at Harley. She was in a silly position, unconscious. She fainted out of fear.

At that moment, it wouldn't be so hard to know what was going to happen.

"Well s***…" grumbled Henry.

* * *

**Elena's POV, (at 4:29 pm)**

It took us a while to get to the bridge. Damien decided to drive the bus, but it wasn't easy getting through the ink-infested hills. As the terrorist bus we 'stole' wasn't as advanced as the 'Gold Strap', it struggled to get through ink puddles. It didn't drown in any, but it was troublesome getting out of EXTRA THICC ink. Finally, we managed to drive to the Golden Gate Bridge.

For some reason, Spider and Lucy got excited as we got close to the bridge.

"We're here!" said Lucy.

"Oh my gosh!" said Spider. "Look! It's the Golden Gate Bridge! Well…it's not really made out of solid gold – which we thought – but STILL!"

"Right…incredible," said Alissa sarcastically. "Those cars and debris all over on the bridge make it EYE-CATCHING."

"I know, right?"

"Do you EVEN know what sarcasm means?"

"I can't believe this bridge is ruined," said Clyde worriedly, the streak on his hair now blue. "Those bloody bogans must have made a mess here."

"Is anyone still in the city?" asked Bendy.

Laura looked worried. "It seemed that those ink monsters stripped the city clean."

"I just hope that Barrett is still alive," said Jace.

"Huh?" said Draco, spotting something in front. "What is this?"

I squinted my eyes to see an incoming figure in front of us, far away.

"What is it?" said Laura.

"Put on your specs," I said.

She did…and froze. "F*** me."

"Language!" said Bendy.

On the other side of the bridge, there was a man with messy hair, screaming like Squidward. He was chased by TINY Bendy-like ink monsters.

"What?" said Bendy. "I never seen those little things before."

Laura shook her head. "These things are getting worse and worse. I guess that there are new ink monsters pouring out."

I watched as the man kept on running and screaming while the bus was getting close. The man stopped and said something. For some reason, I realized what he was saying by looking at the way his mouth was moving.

"Oh yes!" he said. "Rescue! You saved me-!"

SPLAT!

…only for the bus to drive THROUGH them. We heard the unmistakable noise of Damien driving the bus OVER small ink monsters…as if they were bearded dragons. We all sat in our seats in shock as the bus drove to the other side of the bridge, reaching the city. Damien looked bored. As classical music kept on playing, he pressed a button.

Eventually, the man splattered against the front window. Damien had to use the windscreen to wipe the man off the window.

"We could have taken him in," said Clyde dryly.

"I care less," grumbled Damien.

"Eh…well done," said Sven, quickly getting over the confusion and pulled out a banana for him to eat. "We are in the city now! I wished I was the one who drove this bus…"

Damien drove the bus around a corner, through an alley…and stopped.

"What the-?" I said. "Why did we stop?"

"Look," said Damien, looking…nervous.

I looked at the front window. There was a road that led downhill from the alley. On the lower ground, there was a large square with many shops on the sides. Even worse, there were ink monsters crowding the whole place. Mostly humanoid monsters. They seemed to be the civilians of San Francisco. Something happened to them. Half of them were wandering around. The other half? Well…they were just standing in their spots…twitching horribly in their places. Some of them were…dripping blood from their mouths or eyes.

"Oh…my…gosh," I said.

"This…" said Bendy sadly. "This is horrible. JUST horrible."

"We need to find a way to get through them," said Laura. "Once we reached the Ink Machine, there will be no more of them. I mean NONE."

"But how?" said Alissa worriedly. "We can't take on all of them. Most of our weapons are low since we have to abandon our old bus. We are running out of ammo."

"She's right," agreed Jace grimly. "And because we are near that damn machine, they might be…stronger than ever. Let's not forget that they can revive easily. I guess that guns and swords are pathetically…USELESS against them."

Bendy got an idea. "We CAN'T fight them…but we CAN steer them away."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"All we need is somebody to get out of the bus, distract them away to give us enough time to head to where the Ink Machine is and get that person back into the bus when we are close!"

Everyone looked frightened.

"You mean…?" said Jace.

"Yes," said Bendy. "Live bait…so any takers?"

Nobody responded. I looked around at the circle. We all had worried looks, peering at each other to see who would step up.

A word wasn't made in the tense silence.

Sort of.

Sven – who wasn't listening – was eating his banana. We all looked at him.

"Oh," he muttered. "This taste SO good."

He finally noticed that we were all staring at him.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

Alissa and Damien glanced at each other for a second.

"Hey Sven," said Alissa.

Sven finished his banana. "Yeah?"

"We have…something we want you to do."

"Why's that?"

Alissa and Damien exchanged another glance.

"It will…ahem…make you a celebrity," said Damien.

Sven jumped out of his seat, flinging the banana peel onto the floor.

"OH RIGHT!" he said. "I'm in! What's in it for me?"

* * *

Within moments, Alissa and Damien BOOTED Sven out of the bus. The latter screamed as he was thrown into the air and crashed onto the road head-first.

Alissa and Damien grinned and fist-bumped with each other. They closed the door. **[1]**

"Oh c'mon!" yelled Sven amplified. "REALLY?!"

He turned to us, wearing a black and gold armor – covered from head to toe. The thing that PISSED him off was Jace idly sipping cola, as if he was about to watch a movie.

"I swear to God," snarled Sven. "…none of you better NOT record this down and send it to the public."

"Final instructions," said Draco monotonously. "Make sure to get the ink monsters to the right side of the city. We will head to the left side towards the warehouse and when we are two streets near it, we will call you to come over."

"This is STUPID! I'm gonna be eaten alive!"

"Your armor is locked and lacks any gaps, so the ink monsters won't tear you apart. There is an oxygen tank and a communicator attached to your armor, so you will get to breath and the connection is REALLY strong in this city. You will be fine."

Sven sighed reluctantly. "Fine then. But can I have my sniper rifle please?"

At this, Draco opened the door, threw Sven's rifle outside and closed the door. Sven grumbled and took the rifle.

He turned on his communicator. "_OK. Don't stress. You can do this. When all of this is over, you will be fine._"

He slowly walked down the hill and stood near the ink monsters. For some reason, those monsters didn't notice him. Sven raised his rifle into the air and pulled the trigger.

BANG! BANG!

None of the monsters respond.

Sven aimed his rifle at one of the monsters.

BANG!

That ink monster dropped to the floor.

Still, none of the ink monsters cared.

"_They…they didn't notice,_" said Sven surprised.

"Poor them," said Lucy. "Maybe because of this, they are starting to not care about anything."

"_Is there a better way to get their attention?_" said Sven.

As if to answer, Spider picked up a TNT box, opened the door and THREW IT OUTSIDE. The box went flying and hit an ink monster.

KABOOM!

A large number of ink monsters exploded. This caused ALL OF THEM to notice us.

I gulped.

Sven froze.

Spider pointed at Sven. "It was him. Let's get him, fellas."

At this, one ink monster let out a screech. This caused other monsters to screech.

But not at us.

"_COME OUT AND GET ME, YOU FATASS B**CHES!_" Sven yelled aggressively.

As his voice echoed across the square, all the ink monsters ran towards Sven. He was fast. He dodged from one monster before running off into the ink monsters. He managed to get to the other side of the crowd, provoking a crowd of ink monsters. We watched as they disappeared out of sight.

"I hope he survives…" said Lucy.

"He will survive alright," said Clyde deadpanned.

"We can't stick around here," I said. "Let's go and shut down that Ink Machine."

Damien went back to the driver's seat and drove the bus off.

It was…kind of relaxing.

Even though Damien was driving over the speed's limit (not like it mattered at the moment), I found the trip good. It seemed to be calm. Maybe a bit…weird.

As we drove through the city, I noticed many lone ink monsters. However, unlike the ones I encountered before, something didn't look right with them. They didn't try to attack us. They looked a bit creepy and alienated…and a bit depressing.

The first ink monster we saw was on the floor, spazzing out. Its arms were flailing like a retard.

"**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo…!**" it exclaimed.

"Is it just me?" said Draco. "Or are we experiencing déjà vu?"

"I wonder if they allowed drugs in this city," I said.

"What?" said Laura.

"Nothing."

As Damien turned the bus around the corner, we came across an ink monster, bashing its head into the brick wall. It looked fine, but it was noticeable that it was having a headache.

"**I wAnT tO dIe,**" it moaned before it continued hitting his head.

The bus drove on. We came across a tall five star hotel. Spider peered through the window…

…before jumping back as an ink monster splattered onto the pavement.

"What the hell?" he said.

I looked at the ink monster; its battered body lying on the floor to waste. "It must be at the top of the hotel before falling down."

"This is bad," said Jace.

At the point where Damien was 15 streets away from the warehouse, I spotted a shop…filled with anime and manga merchandise. One ink monster could be seen in the store…huffing a body pillow.

"That's…so wrong," said Laura cringing.

"But she looks pretty!" said Bendy.

Spider, Alissa and Clyde glared at him. Surprising, SPIDER was glaring at Bendy.

"OK," said Draco, checking his map. "We are almost there! Nearly two streets ahead!"

"_Thank God,_" said Sven through the communicator. "_Do you want me to come back to you now? I lost them._"

"Good. Make sure nobody follows you."

"_Got it!_"

"Oh right!" said Laura. "We are almost close!"

"Yeah!" said Spider. "The Mighty Spider and his friends are close to the Ink Machine. Once we destroyed that Ink Machine, we will be famous heroes! People will be like 'WOW! THERE THEY ARE! THE MIGHT SPIDER AND HIS FRIENDS!' Imagine what life will be after we saved the world."

"I'm imagining myself in a hot gold tub," said Jace dreamily.

"I hate to break it to you," said Damien frowning. "Don't think so highly on that."

BASH!

The bus suddenly stopped. We were thrown from our seats.

"What the-?!" said Laura.

"What the hell is that?!" said Draco.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"Why did we stopped?" said Laura.

"Let me guess," said Clyde sarcastically. "The lights are bloody red."

Damien groaned as he got up and sat in his seat. "Well…yeah…for a different reason."

"...what?"

Lucy looked through the front window. "Oh dear."

"Ah f***," I said.

"Language!" said Bendy.

Nobody heard that. We were busy focusing on what was IN FRONT OF US.

There was a huge pile of debris blocking the road. There were so many building pieces, damaged headlights and broken cars barricading us. It even covered up the gate on our left and the buildings on our right.

"Oh s***!" yelled Alissa.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"Oh no!" said Draco.

"That is not good!" said Spider.

"Is there another way around?" I said.

"I don't see any at this spot!" said Damien. "It's the only way to get to the warehouse!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I jumped upon hearing something banging on the door. Draco looked.

"It's Sven," said Draco. "He's back."

We opened the door and let him in. Sven got inside and closed the door behind, taking off the armor.

"Are we close yet?" he said.

"Not really," said Laura. "We…have an obstacle we are facing at the moment."

Sven looked at the pile of rubble. "Whoa! That is not good! How did that get here?"

"And you just noticed that JUST NOW?!" said Alissa.

"Is there ANOTHER WAY to get to the warehouse?" said Draco impatiently.

"I looked through the city," explained Sven. "Everything is out of order! There are no other ways to get there because they are filled with more barriers like this!"

"OH MY GOSH!" screamed Lucy.

"What?" said Jace.

We all looked behind. There was a large mob of ink monsters…

COMING TO GET US.

Everyone panicked.

Bendy leaped onto Damien.

"DRIVE!" yelled Bendy, shaking Damien. "DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE!"

Damien stepped onto the pedal. He gunned the engine. The bus tried hard to drive over, but the debris was too tall and too heavy.

"I thought I told you that you can't let ANYONE follow you!" said Draco.

"I swear!" said Sven. "I'm sorry! I didn't know! I thought I lost them!"

"Maybe it's because there are MORE OF THEM in this bloody city!" said Clyde. "For some reason, we will NEVER get away from them! They won't rack off!"

Damien pushed the lever to the highest gear. The bus smashed into the rubble, still struggling to get over. He cursed and banged his fist onto the wheel.

"It's too heavy!" he said. "This bus can't go over all this trash!"

That was when the ink monsters closed in. They surrounded the bus. Because the door was locked, they started to rock the bus up and down. Everybody screamed as we all held onto our seats.

"Not…this…a…gain…" I said as the bus moved back and forth.

"Heeeeeeeey!" said Spider smiling. "This is actually fun!"

"You dullard!" snarled Jace. "Haven't you forgotten what happened LAST TIME in that car?!"

"Nope."

Damien rapidly was stomping the pedal multiple times. He was gritting his teeth, letting out a wolf-like growl.

"C'MON!" yelled Sven high-pitched.

"Wait," said Bendy. "Why does your voice sounds like a girl all of a sudden?"

And if things couldn't get worse, one ink monster LEANED INTO THE BUS THROUGH THE BACK WINDOW.

"WHAT?!" screamed Lucy. "How come the back window is opened?!"

Pitbull clenched his fists, ready to fight.

The rest of us got into a state of alarm.

Spider looked around…and spotted a large machine gun.

"OH YES!" he exclaimed in joy.

He grabbed it and got into position.

"SAY HELLO TO MAH FRIEND!" he said.

And that was when he stepped onto Sven's banana peel and SLIPPED. The gun went flying out from his hand.

WHAM!

It smashed into the ink monster, knocking it away from the back window.

"HAH!" mocked Spider, raising his middle fingers upwards. "Suck my d***!"

"Great," said Clyde, face palming. "Do you ACTUALLY and REALLY realize that you are GIVING THEM A **BLOODY ARSE WEAPON?!**"

Spider's face contorted in fear.

As if to exaggerate this fear, gunfire could be heard outside. Bullets were fired, destroying the windows. We all ducked behind our seats. Damien quickly picked up a shield to avoid being shot.

"What are we going to do?!" whimpered Laura.

"Just drive backwards!" I suggested.

"There are too many of them!" said Damien. "I can't drive backwards! They will tip over the bus!"

"Just do it!" said Jace. "Or it will be our funeral! Please!"

"Wait," said Sven.

He was eyeing…that red button that was next to the wheel.

"Screw safety requirements," said Sven, getting up and avoided the last wave of bullets. "Let's blow this s***!"

"WAIT!" screamed Damien, blocking him. "DON'T!"

Too late.

Sven managed to get out of Damien's way and pressed the red button.

It was surprising what it did.

A large missile flew out from the bus' BOTTOM. It went flying, zoomed through the ink monsters, flew into the air and went charging towards the pile of debris.

BOOM!

The pile of debris exploded. It went flying everywhere, hitting the ink monsters. It cleared a path for us to go through.

"YES!" we all said.

Damien hit the pedal and the bus went off again. The ink monsters chased after us.

"Argh!" exclaimed Laura. "They are still after us! How do we lose them?!"

As if to answer, Sven smashed the red button again. Another missile flew out from the bus and flew towards an unstable building in front of us. As soon as we passed by, the missile hit the support beam, causing the building to go crumbling down.

The ink monsters weren't so lucky.

We watched as the building crashed onto the monsters. Dust and ink went flying everywhere…before silence.

"YEAH!" said Jace. "We lost them!"

"That should take care of them!" said Laura.

"We made it out alive!" whooped Spider.

"And it's all thanks to me!" said Sven proudly.

Draco chuckled. "OK then, little man. But next time, look before you leap, OK?"

Sven nodded obediently.

"HEY, GUYS!" called Damien. "We made it! We are near the warehouse!"

He was right. We were already there. We reached the left side of the city AND the outskirts.

We all saw the large warehouse. It was old and broken, the paint peeling off, the windows shattered and the metal walls began to rust. There was a lot of ink covering the warehouse. The scary thing was that there was slightly blood mixed in the ink. On the road, a sewer hole was opened. The door was opened, leading to the shadows inside.

The strangest thing was that there were barely any ink monsters coming out from the warehouse, so it made the whole building seemingly deserted.

"Oh right!" said Spider. "We made it!"

"Time to destroy that trash machine!" said Bendy, cracking his knuckles.

"Wait," I said. "This seems too easy."

"Don't say that," said Laura. "We will be JUST fine."

All of a sudden, laughter could be heard from behind. I whipped my head behind…and gasped.

There was this guy…his eyes were black with red iris. He was all in black, wearing a brown cape.

AND HE HAD A FREAKING FLAMING WHITE AURA.

He formed a large energy ball on the staff he was holding on and threw it at us.

"WHAT THE F*** IS THAT?!" yelled Jace.

"Language!" said Bendy.

"STEP ON IT!" screamed Draco.

We all freaked out and Damien quickly drove us away from that figure. We had to get inside the warehouse, but at that moment, it seemed impossible.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Henry and Liam screamed as they ran away from the chasing Beast Bendy. They had been doing this for a few minutes, but they knew that they had to fight. Unfortunately, both of them didn't have anything to stop that beast. They were too scared to face the beast.

Henry was scared out of his mind. This reminded him of his fight with Beast Bendy back in the haunted studio. It wasn't really a fight, but he remembered that he was in a maze-like room and chased by Beast Bendy. He remembered the many times he and Bendy were slapped and punched every time while avoiding being eaten by Beast Bendy. He remembered the scratched he got onto his arms when attacked. Henry had to run to the throne room, so that he could put 'The End' tape in the recorder – to defeat the beast. But at this moment, Henry didn't know what to do to destroy Beast Bendy…OK. He wasn't planning to kill the beast, but was hoping there was a way to weaken it for a while or get it away. There wasn't a weapon or anything useful to solve the solution. Besides, Victoria said that the beast was JOEY DREW, so he wasn't too keen on the idea of killing his partner.

"**COME HERE!**" roared Beast Bendy. "**You little s***!**"

At this, the beast pounced, but Henry and Liam quickly dodged. They watched as the black abomination crashed into a wall, becoming stuck in it. Its body apparently was in the hole it made, sticking out its tail which was violently swinging around.

Liam looked down to see Harley. She was still unconscious due to unable to take the fright of the beast. They had to pick her up and put her at a safe place, but it was clear that the beast wasn't aiming for her.

"How do we get rid of that?!" said Liam.

"But that's Joey!" said Henry. "And there is no film tape to turn him back to normal."

Liam gritted his teeth. "We just need to get rid of the f***ing pentagram and this will be all over."

Liam froze. "Where's the acetone?"

At this, Beast Bendy managed to pop his head out from the wall. It turned around, accidentally kicking away the lying acetone bottle. The glass bottle rolled across the floor to the other side.

"Damn it!" yelled Liam. "The acetone!"

Henry got an idea. "You get that bottle and wipe out the pentagram! I'll deal with him."

"What?!"

"Don't worry. See what this…argh…'old' man can do."

Liam noted the reluctance in Henry's voice when he said 'old', but it wasn't relevant to the situation at the moment. The blonde teen nodded before running off.

Beast Bendy was about to chase Liam when Henry caught its attention.

"HEY!" yelled Henry. "I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

Beast Bendy turned around. "**U F***ING WOT M8?!**"

"I choose Freddy Fazbear than your stupid cartoon!"

The beast did not take that well. It let out a roar and pounced onto Henry.

"**AnY lAsT wOrDs?!**" snarled Beast Bendy.

Henry sneered. "Go suck a d***!"

"**WHAT THE HELL YOU SAY?!**"

From the other side, Liam quickly picked up the bottle of acetone. He heard a loud roar and saw Beast Bendy about to finish Henry.

"HENRY!" screamed Liam. "NO!"

To his horror, Beast Bendy bared its teeth and clamped its jaw down tightly onto Henry's THROAT.

Or so Liam thought.

Because Henry had taken that green chemical before, the teeth couldn't poke into Henry's skin. The teeth just harmlessly bounced off Henry's neck many times as if they were made from rubber. Even inside Henry's neck, the blood veins were held perfectly and the throat refused to break.

Henry was STILL invincible.

"OK…" said Henry. "Good thing I'm alive…still feels a bit frightening with something trying to bite my neck."

Beast Bendy stopped and hovered upwards. It looked at Henry before roaring again. It tried biting his head…but that didn't work. It tried biting his arms…but that didn't work. It tried biting his chest…but that didn't work. It tried biting his legs…but…you know what happened.

"I don't know how to explain this…" said Henry annoyed. "..but you never give up, do you?"

While the beast kept using Henry as some kind of chew toy, Liam threw a large spill of acetone onto the pentagram. Half of the drawing was wiped clean...and turned red.

KABOOM!

Liam was thrown back by the explosion, nearly spilling the rest of the acetone. The pentagram was already missing its half and the center, but it was still glowing.

"C'mon!" yelled Henry. "Finish it!"

Hearing this, Beast Bendy lifted its head up to see Liam. The blonde teen's face turned pale.

"Nice one breaking it, Henry," said Liam, failing to sound sarcastic.

At this, Beast Bendy let out a screech before running off. Henry tried to stop it by grabbing its tail, but found himself being pulled. That beast was STRONGER than Henry.

Liam started to sweat, fiddling with the bottle in his head. The beast was coming closer. He was about to throw the rest of the acetone onto the pentagram, but the sight of Beast Bendy made him froze into his spot. He couldn't move.

Liam braced himself to be killed…until…

HONK! HONK!

Everyone stopped…including Beast Bendy who was just a few meters away from Liam. Henry was sent flying when the beast stopped, landing near the stage. It was coming from the hallway that led outside.

And came in crashing…was the bus.

The bus those teens were on.

It went crashing through the doors, SOMEHOW squeezed through the hallway and zoomed inside the room. From the front window, you could see the worried face on Damien's face and Bendy screaming at the top of his lungs.

Henry gasped. "BENDY?!"

Before he had the time to progress what was going on, the bus crashed into Beast Bendy. Drilling the ink monster, the bus slammed it to the wall.

BANG!

The bus came to a stop. A large trail of smoke appeared from the engine, which was starting to break. Beast Bendy passed out upon hitting its head on the wall SO HARD.

Nobody knew what to say about this.

* * *

**Bendy's POV**

I laid down on the floor, shivering. That ride was scary, man. We were chased by this crazy man and we were able to get away from him by driving INTO the warehouse. When we got in, a large figure smashed into the front of the bus.

To my horror, it was BEAST BENDY.

Things suddenly calmed down when the bus slammed that monster into the wall.

I slowly got up, breathing hardly.

"Is everyone OK?" asked Draco.

Everyone groaned in response.

"I am as good as a bean suffering from bouncing in a can," grumbled Alissa.

Laura rubbed her face as she opened the door.

"That is one hell of a ride…" she said.

"Language!" I said.

Laura didn't listen. She slumped out of the bus, holding onto her slightly injured left arm. She looked up…and froze.

"Laura?"

I froze. I heard something familiar. C-could it be?

I peeped through the window. I saw…Henry. He looked…as if he was fighting through a war. His hair was a mess and he had ink smudges on his face and clothes.

OH…MY…GOODNESS.

"Y-you're here?" stuttered Henry.

"Dad…" said Laura. "I'm here."

My mouth twitched. Before I could say a word, Henry immediately ran towards Laura and hugged her. He started sobbing along with his daughter crying in happy relief. A smile crept onto my face.

"I…I can't believe that you're here," said Henry, shaking in emotion. "I…I thought I told you to stay put."

"I won't," chirped Laura. "I just wanted to find you, even if that means searching the WHOLE WORLD looking for you."

Henry released himself from the hug, wiping the tears away from his eyes. I slowly got out of the bus. He saw me.

My creator.

I leaped onto him, giving him a hug. He put his hands around me, nearly about to cry again. I closed my eyes happily. I knew that he was alive.

As I let myself go, Henry noticed Elena and the rest of the group coming out from the bus.

"W-what?" said Henry baffled. "W-why is Elena here as well?"

He turned to Laura, suddenly becoming firm. "Laura, why did you bring THOSE people around?"

Laura was about to answer when Lucy cleared her throat.

"It was because we thought she shouldn't go alone on to find you," said Lucy.

"Yeah," said Laura sheepishly. "I needed some assistance to get here."

"We…we even came to stop that Ink Machine," explained Draco.

"AND find my older brother," added Spider.

Henry was nearly speechless. "You lot just came here, risking your young lives?"

All the teens nodded, nearly ashamed.

"Let's deal with this later," I said, raising my hands. "I want to destroy that stupid Ink Machine for good. It's the one causing all of this."

"It's not the Ink Machine that's responsible for the ink invasion," said another voice.

We turned around to see a blonde boy helping a brown-skinned woman to get up.

Laura gasped.

Elena gasped.

Spider gasped.

Did I?

No.

I stayed quiet.

"L-Liam?" said Draco. "I…I don't understand. What are you doing here?"

Liam – the blonde boy – frowned. "Oh. Hi, guys. It's been a while. You think I wouldn't be caught up in all this 'FUN', would you?"

"You DID miss the whole 'running away from ink monsters, sneaking out of school, driving to San Francisco, crashing our first bus, stealing a terrorist bus, rode on a ship, drove through San Francisco and just smashed into an ink monster' part," said Clyde sarcastically…again.

Liam noticed Elena. The latter's face was pale…before turning back to tan in confidence.

"And I see that you brought Ruby along," said Liam, raising an eyebrow. "How delightful." **[2]**

"It's actually Elena…" said Elena nervously. "…my real name is Elena Rubystone."

"So that's how she looks like," said the brown-skinned woman.

"Shut up, Harley," growled Liam, letting her go.

Elena looked afraid…before shaking her head. "Liam…I want to say sorry."

Liam's blue eyes lit up. "What?"

"I'm sorry…for yelling at you…I shouldn't. I shouldn't turn my back on you."

A thoughtful look appeared on the blonde teen's face. "I-it's fine…if only I had stop Liam from abusing you, none of this would happen."

With a bottle of acetone in his hand, he walked to the…pentagram that was drawn on the floor. It was glowing.

"Uh…Liam?" said Laura.

"What?" said Liam.

"I'm…I'm sorry."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Wait!" said Laura, coming up to Liam. "Please…I mean it."

Liam snapped back. "How can I tell that you are not lying?"

"What do you mean?"

Liam was taken aback by this. His cheeks puffed up…and then he faked laughed.

"How stupid of you," he said. "And yet, I thought you would be over me right now. I was hoping that I never see you all again."

Sven, Alissa and Damien came up to him.

"W-what do you mean?" said Sven.

"Never see us again?" said Alissa. "What are you talking about?"

Straight away, Liam's face turned bright red. He was RAGING.

"OH FOR **CRYING OUT LOUD!**" he barked. "Wouldn't YOU do the same thing to someone who you hate as well?!"

"But didn't I apologize to you?" pointed out Elena.

"Well these guys just throw me away, didn't they tell you?"

Elena was silent.

Henry looked nervous. "Uh…Liam…?"

"Why would we hate you now?" said Spider. "We are all together and that's what matters."

"Do you think that it matters?" said Liam shaking. "Do you think it REALLY matters?! Do you think that we just bumped into each other after three months…was because I CARED ABOUT ALL OF YOU, YOU TREACHEROUS, BACK-STABBING RAPSCALLIONS?!"

Almost all the teens gasped, clearly offended.

"Is 'rapscallions' a good thing?" asked Spider dumbly.

Jace groaned in annoyance. "NO! You MUPPET!"

Spider turned to Lucy. "Is 'muppet' a good thing?"

"To me, yeah," said Lucy smiling nervously, showing that she didn't think so.

"You really think I will trust all of you again?!" ranted Liam. "Like all you MOTHERF***ERS?!"

"Language!" I said.

"SHUT UP, YOU SLIMEBALL!" Liam roared, pointing at me. "OR I'LL THROW YOU INTO THE OCEAN!"

"Liam!" said Harley. "That's enough."

"You stay out of this," said Liam.

"I SAID ENOUGH! You are done being impulsive and I don't want you to be THIS RUDE by simply yelling at your friends."

"My friends?!" said Liam in disbelief. "They are NO LONGER my friends. Why do you think they threw me out?!"

"Threw you out?!" said Draco, sounding hurt.

"Not all of us!" said Clyde on the brink of tears.

"Well, you all gathered up as a mob," said Liam through gritted teeth.

"But listen!" said Laura, grabbing Liam's arm. "I tried to call you during the summer!"

Liam growled and held onto his head. "NO! No, no, no! I'm done! I'm done with all of this! I can't take this anymore! I'm done with YOU!"

Laura's eyes started to water. Henry stood by her side.

"So…" said Laura. "You're saying that…you…you no longer…love me?"

Liam growled again. "I-It's just that…I…after you all shut me outside…I…I…I tried not to care about anyone anymore. Nobody. None. I DO care about all of you…but…I…I…I don't want to if you all throw me away. I'm…I'm…I'm so sick of loving. What's the point of caring about anyone when all they do is shut you off?!"

"B-but…" said Lucy. "You saw how we felt…"

"And will that mean ANYTHING?! Here's the thing; I had been abused by my piss-ass drunk dad, taking responsible for my brother's crimes and my mother left me. A lot of bullies hurt me. How in the world can I care about others now? How can I care about the world when all it does is send hell on me?"

Elena bit her lip. "This…this isn't the 'Liam' I'm seeing. What happened to you? We were like brother and sister. What happened to your caring self? So your past is why you left those people?"

"This 'Liam' already grew up," said Liam bitterly. "I'm no longer naïve. I…I…I don't care about anyone. Not anymore."

But it seemed that he DID care about us.

There was a tense silence. I knew that I never saw what happened before, so I was in the middle, trying to figure everything out.

However, I didn't need to come up with a solution.

"I forgive you!" said Spider.

"What?" said Jace. "Spider…you don't have to. HE was the one who scarred you for life."

"I know but…ever since that fight…I thought about it…and…and I believe that he didn't mean to cut me…or sent those mean posts. I know now that you won't listen…but please accept my forgiveness."

Liam was silent. He looked…shocked. However, old habits die hard. "So, you lot pity me."

"No…" said Laura. "Even if we throw you away, we didn't stop caring about you…"

She gave up and turned around. "If you don't care, then fine. Let's destroy whatever is doing this."

"Wait!" said Liam.

Laura turned around.

"Y-you still care about me?"

Laura nodded. "Well…sometimes. E…ever since we broke up…I suffered during the first month of summer thinking about you. I never told my pain to anyone, so I kept it to myself. It hurts to see that I have to break up with the person I once loved…how you were hurting. I understand why you don't want to care about anyone…but I am to blame as well."

Liam narrowed his eyes. "Was…was that why you kept sending me calls?"

Laura nodded.

"Then why didn't you say anything on the day I was expelled?"

"Because I was a coward. As a member of the school council, I had to do what's right. At first, I thought that you REALLY meant to hurt Spider like that…but…after seeing you the last time before summer…the look in your eyes meant that you didn't mean to. I wanted to believe you…but the principal already made the decision…all the students at our school no longer trust you…and I was scared…to be seen as a fool in front of everyone because I was in love with you. I thought what I did was right…but it wasn't. I fell into a depression in the first month of summer. I cried in my sleep, I called myself a worthless person and I nearly had suicidal thoughts. However, I got over it because I thought that I will never see you again…especially since you moved away. I started to realize that I no longer love you. I wasn't in love with you anymore."

There was a pained look on Liam's face. His eyes looked innocent and were glistening. "You…you…w-what…oh my lord…"

Laura nodded. "I'm…I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I should have defended you on that day. I…I know it won't be easy, but…is it OK…if I can…be with you again? Try to talk with each other?"

Liam couldn't speak. He didn't know how to answer. Shaking, Laura hugged Liam tightly but comfortable.

"I-I should be the one to say sorry," said Liam, his voice breaking.

"We all make mistakes," said Laura.

To my surprise, Liam was…shaking. He was trembling badly in grief. It appeared that the seemingly long years of hatred and rejection melted away, and for once, Liam founded his lost romance. He started to cry, tears rolling down his cheeks. After a long time, they let go from their embrace.

Liam rubbed his eyes. "I…I don't know how to say this. I…I wish I can love you again…but I threw away my heart."

"Maybe we can go look for it," said Laura smiling.

I saw almost everyone gathering around those two with smiling and happy faces. I smiled as well. Despite their past, it seemed that we could handle the future.

There was still one thing to fix.

"OK then," said Liam. "I'm OK now. L-let's save the world first."

"Do we get to destroy the Ink Machine?" I said eagerly.

"No. That."

He was referring to the pentagram. My smile faded.

"A…pentagram?" I said.

"Yeah," said Henry, taking the bottle of acetone. "And this will return everything back to normal as if none of this happened?"

"Wait," said Elena confused. "So…if we get rid of that, does that mean that everything will be…repaired?"

"Of course," said Liam. "It's worth a shot."

"Here it goes," said Henry.

He threw the rest of the acetone onto the pentagram.

The effect was…effective.

KABOOM!

It exploded and we all went flying. I yelped in pain as I hit the ground.

"Ow…" I said. "That's painful."

"What happened?" asked Draco.

"Look!" said Damien.

We all got up and walked towards the pentagram…or what USED to be the pentagram. The whole floor drawing was smeared, ruining the picture. The candles suddenly turned off, the flames disappearing.

"I-I can't believe it!" said Spider. "It's gone!"

"Does that mean…we…we did it?" I said.

A loud growl could be heard.

We all looked at the bus.

Beast Bendy…got up, pushed the bus aside and stared at us menacingly.

"W-what?" said Alissa.

"I thought I…" said Damien shocked.

Henry's eyes widened in fear. "It…it can't be destroyed. And…and since THIS INK MONSTER is still here…then that means…"

A state of fear overtook everyone.

We all didn't need to know what that meant.

IT DIDN'T FIX EVERYTHING.

"Oh no…" said Laura.

Suddenly, the lights went out.

Everything went dark.

And they turned back on.

And oh…the bus disappeared.

And there was a LARGER BLACK PENTAGRAM DRAWING THAT FILLED THE **ENTIRE **FLOOR.

A maniac laughter could be heard.

We all looked up.

That caped figure we saw before was hovering above us. He landed in the middle of the pentagram. Beast Bendy had suddenly disappeared.

"WHAT?!" said Laura in disbelief. "W-we failed? It didn't work?"

"OF COURSE IT DIDN'T!" guffawed the caped figure. "You skunks thought you can go against me? **The Mighty Mykrylais?**"

"B-but we destroyed the pentagram!" I said, my voice breaking.

"Sure that pentagram is ruined…and it was one of my first pentagrams…BUT, this isn't the real source of my power."

He lifted up his staff. "THIS is where all my power is stored in. I created this staff, so that I can take care of it. With the ORB ON THE STAFF, as long as I hold onto it, it will NEVER break."

"Wait a minute…" said Elena. "Why does your voice sounds…familiar?"

Liam groaned. "We all know him before. Mykrylais is MITCHELL VON RICHMOND. My brother!"

"WHAT?!" said all the teens.

Mitchell seemed shocked hearing this…before shaking his in disgust.

"I should have changed my voice in the first place," he muttered as he took off his hood. "But…fine then."

His eyes turned to blue with white scelera. "**It's me.**"

"M-Mitchell?" stuttered Elena.

"Mitchell?" said Spider dumbfounded.

"Mitchell?" said Draco. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" scoffed Mitchell. "THIS IS **MY** WAREHOUSE AFTER ALL!"

"W-what?!" said Laura. "So the whole time…YOU were responsible for all of this?"

"Why yes! It was all thanks to my newfound religious studies AND my ritual experiments! I became a god now and I got this sexy power!"

Alissa was enraged. "YOU EVIL PRICK! Why are you doing all of this?!"

"For power, isn't that obvious?"

"BY KILLING MANY PEOPLE?!" roared Henry angrily.

"I didn't 'kill' them. I just turned them into my perfect subjects."

"They don't look that perfect," spat Damien.

"A lot of people are hurt already," said Lucy sadly.

"B-but Mitchell…" said Clyde, trembling in fear. "Y-y-you know that you don't have to do all of this! There are many other ways to become…g-g-great in non-lethal ways."

Mitchell was silent for a while. There was pained look in his dark blue eyes. "Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeah. But I wouldn't mind living my rap career if YOU Spider and Harley didn't interfere at my concert!"

Harley was furious. "You can't blame us! I found that money under your bed. You can't ILLEGALLY do things you aren't supposed to do until you reach 21!"

"Well you can't ILLEGALLY barge into concerts and destroy sub-woofers without authorized permission or entry tickets either!"

For once, Liam managed to talk. "HEY! Me toppling over that boombox…THAT was an accident!"

"Look," said Spider becoming teary. "I'm…I'm sorry for that. I…I knew I shouldn't come to the concert…but…but…I HELPED you make those songs for you. I made that music…I…I thought that if I come up on stage, then…we would do well…I thought that you needed help."

Mitchell's eyes were on fire. "You think I NEEDED help?!"

"Well it seemed so…but-!"

Mitchell snapped. He flew over to Spider and held him by the throat.

"I WAS DOING AMAZING!" yelled Mitchell. "No. I WAS DOING **BETTER** THAN AMAZING, BUT YOU JUST F*** THE WHOLE THING AND MY SOUNDTRACK ACCOUNT IS RUINED! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Spider struggled to breath. He was…scared. Mitchell slightly calmed down and let go.

"Besides," said Mitchell. "If it was anybody else's fault for all of this, it would be YOURS. If you didn't peek around, then I would still be making rap albums instead of trying to do world domination!"

"Just how much do you want?!" said Elena. "What are you TRYING to do?!"

Mitchell smirked evilly. "Thank you for asking, Ruby. Oh wait. It's Elena, but whatever. Same thing. As I am a god now, I have the power to do whatever I want! I want the whole world. But my progress is slow, so I'm speeding things up with THIS pentagram. When this ritual works, I will make NEW MONSTERS that are so powerful that they can CONSUME COUNTRIES AND NATIONS! All I need to do…is find some sacrifices."

My eyes widened up. I remembered how Sammy nearly tried to sacrifice Henry, but this one was HUGE. Whatever the ritual was, it would be more painful than being eaten by the Ink Demon alive.

"Brother!" called Liam, grabbing Mitchell and pulled him near his face, both their identical noses nearly touching.

"What?" hissed Mitchell.

"Please…" said Liam, his eyes shaking. "Stop this…now."

Mitchell remained quiet.

"Is this what I want? Is this what Elena wants? Is this what our mother wants?"

Mitchell suddenly yelled. "OUR MOTHER IS GONE! She never love us."

"That's because she couldn't take all of this pressure. YOU sent her away. What you did pushed her to the edge."

Silence.

"Then she is forgotten," muttered Mitchell grimly. "She is no longer with us. I must do this."

"Mitchell. I know that you are in there somewhere. Do you remember what happened before? Before all of this? Before Brooklyn? Before Orlando? Before our father was injured? We were twins, friends, the best brothers in the world! I know those days might sound cheesy…but they were so awesome. I was so happy to be with you. We were so close together. Now, it's your choice? Would you rather be a good person or be a demon? Do you rather make amends or do you make enemies? Do you want to be a brother? And make another fresh start?"

"I don't think it's worth it, Liam," growled Jace. "He wish for nothing, but glory for himself and win it off the backs of EVERYONE."

"No…not really," said Liam. "He just wants to prove that he doesn't care about insults and be as strong to get respect…just like me."

He turned back to Mitchell. "But while you continue to seek for fortune and fame, I – on the other hand – thought that it would be best to stay silent for the whole time…and all of this is partly my fault. I'm sorry for turning my back on you. It was because I couldn't handle all the stress, so I thought it would be best not to care about anything anymore. But now…I see what happened to you. It's not too late to change. Drop that staff. Destroy it. Come home. We miss you. Will you continue to throw your rage around and destroy the world we all loved, or will you do what is right? And be supported by people we befriended?"

It was all quiet as we waited for Mitchell's response. To my surprise, his eyes were starting to fill with light…but then…they filled with something I swore I saw before…

…**DARKNESS**.

SHRRP!

Mitchell flinched and his eyes widened up.

He slowly looked down…to see a blade through his stomach.

Everyone was silent with all shocked and traumatised expressions.

"**YOU NEVER LOVE ME ALL ALONG!**" roared Mitchell, pulling the blade out.

Liam screamed as he collapsed onto the floor. To my horror, it appeared that Mitchell whipped out a blade to stab Liam. The wound wasn't too big – or near the heart – but it was starting to bleed. Liam was trembling as blood slowly poured out from him.

"NO!" screamed Laura.

"LIAM!" shouted Harley.

Harley ran over to Liam who was shivering in a pool of his own blood. Harley held Liam upwards and started to cry in grief. She held her hands onto the wound holes to stop the bleeding, but it was pathetic. Blood could be seen staining Mitchell's now partly-ripped jacket and slowly seeping through Harley's fingers.

What confused me was that Mitchell was…standing there. He didn't make a move. He didn't rear in. He didn't take the chance to finish Liam off. He looked weakened and horrified at this. However, his eyes turned back to red and black, making him looked unbalanced and mentally ill. He was…trembling badly.

He looked at Elena, the latter looking frightened…confused…overwhelmed. At this, he nimbly walked towards her and SNATCHED HER GLASSES.

"W-what are you doing?!" said Elena. "Those are mine!"

"Those WERE yours!" said Liam.

At this, he dropped the sunglasses onto the ground and STOMPED ON THEM.

SNAP!

When he lifted up his boot, we saw the damaged sunglasses. The glass was shattered into many pieces and the lens were broken.

Elena gasped. Her face turned pale and her eyes widened. She looked back up at Mitchell.

"Let's see how you feel when you are trapped in darkness for the majority of your life," he said dangerously. "**Just like me!**"

Liam lifted his staff, about to ignite his powers.

"NOT IF I CAN'T HELP IT!" yelled Draco. "PITBULL! NOW!"

Pitbull took out TWO LARGE HANDFULS OF SMOKE BOMBS and threw them to the ground.

Black smoke exploded and filled the entire room. Because Mitchell didn't close his mouth in time, he started coughing violently.

"WHAT THE-?!" he said. "What is THIS thing?!"

Laura grabbed my hand. "C'mon! Let's go!"

I hopped onto her shoulders. Laura ran off, quickly grabbing Elena and Henry.

"We gotta get out of here!" said Laura.

"We can't leave!" said Henry. "We got to destroy that staff! And Mitchell still have his powers!"

"GUYS!" called Spider.

I whipped my head to the right. Spider was opening a door that led to a hallway.

"No way," I said. "That's a bad idea."

"JUST GET INTO THE F***ING DOOR!" screamed Elena.

"Language!"

While I was riding on Laura's shoulders, Henry, Laura and Elena ran towards the door.

"Wait for us!" yelled Harley.

I looked behind to see Harley and Damien carrying the injured Liam.

"Go faster!" yelled Spider.

"We can't!" said Damien. "His wound is bleeding profoundly. Any more actions and it will make the bleeding worse!"

"Just hurry up already!" I said.

We quickly got to the door. Harley, Damien and Liam were able to reach us.

"Wait!" I said. "What about the others?"

All of a sudden, the doors CLOSED. They became…locked. Henry tried to open them, but…the knob wouldn't budge. He punched it hardly, cursing.

"Language!" I said.

"Damn it!" said Laura. "The smoke is sending the rest of them in chaos!"

"The smoke is the only thing we can use to distract Mitchell for long!" said Damien.

"But how are we going to get to them!" I said, hopping off Laura and tried to open the door. Sadly, I couldn't.

All of a sudden, something popped out between me and the door. I fell backwards. I looked up and saw who it was.

My heart skipped a beat.

IT WAS BEAST BENDY.

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

Jace, Lucy, Clyde, Draco, Alissa, Sven and Pitbull were caught up in the madness. The smoke was too thick and cloudy for any of them to see. They were just running around, trying to reach each other.

Finally having enough, Mitchell slammed the bottom of his staff onto the ground. This caused all the smoke to disappear.

The doors were locked.

Everyone was trapped.

Mitchell smirked.

He held his hand out, glowing in white.

Everyone was suddenly surrounded by a white aura. They were lifted upwards. Mitchell was using his power of levitation to stop them.

"Dude!" yelled Jace. "Stop this nonsense once and for all!"

"I'm sorry," said Mitchell. "You are not my teacher. I'M the teacher now. Maybe we should turn the wheels already."

"P-please," said Lucy. "Let us go."

"Yeah!" said Sven. "I haven't even tried carrots yet!"

"Seriously?!" said Alissa.

"Just let us go!" said Draco. "This is enough and you are acting so INSECURE now!"

Mitchell scoffed. "Insecure? Pfft. Please. No matter what you say about me or what you think about, that won't change me. I will never stop."

"B-b-but you h-h-hurt a lot of people…" said Clyde trembling. "T-they did n-n-nothing to y-y-you. T-t-they were i…i…innocent!"

A somewhat guilty look appeared on Mitchell's face. "Yeah…I…I did hurt a LOT of people…but the world hurts people as well…it's all for the better."

"P-please…h-h-h-how far are you willing to r-r-rule the w…w-world?"

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "You'll be surprised what people will do to be number one."

For some reason, his eyes peered at…Lucy.

"Hmm…" he said. "Sammy Lawrence is already stripped to the bone…maybe I can get a FEMALE SERVANT."

"Say what?" said Lucy.

At this, Mitchell brought Lucy close to her. Jace acted immediately.

"HEY!" yelled Jace, thrashing his arms and legs around in an attempt to break free. "THAT'S **MY** GIRLFRIEND!"

"Oh…" said Liam, snuggling the terrified Lucy. "So? I make a BETTER POTENTIAL BOYFRIEND. She will be mine. She will be spared from the ritual and I will have her a maid."

Jace's face turned red when Mitchell licked Lucy on her cheek. "I'LL SPLAT YOU TO TOMORROW, YOU PERVERT!"

"No!" said Lucy. "Just please don't! I…I…I won't follow you!"

"Why are you doing that to her?" said Sven.

Mitchell smirked. "Hah! I'm surprised of you. How come you become so dense all of a sudden? Why I chose her? Because she is PERFECT! Like an angel. For normal people, they are supposed to have white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. That is PERFECTION. The rest of you are considered as FREAKS."

"W-what do you mean?" said Jace.

"Well, all of you are from foreign AND stupid nationalities, have bizarre hairstyles and have the wrong damn type of skin colour…"

"ExCUSE you?!" snarled Alissa while Pitbull clenched his fists.

"You can't take away the fact that you are all ugly," said Mitchell. "I am the PERFECT person on Earth."

Draco growled. "You swine! You are acting like a Nazi mook right now! You can't just take away people's rights because of who they are!"

"Oh…I can!"

At this, Mitchell lifted his hand. Draco's aura turned red and something was grabbing his throat. He tried to make a word, but he couldn't breathe. Mitchell was force-choking him! The leader of the Black Skulls tried his best to break free from Mitchell's control, but his throat was hurting. He thought he was done for…

"NO!" screamed Lucy in tears. "PLEASE! JUST STOP! STOP IT! I'LL DO WHAT YOU WANT!"

Mitchell let out an evil laugh as he stopped. Draco finally felt his neck free and his aura turned back to white. He sighed, catching his breath.

"No," said Jace. "Don't do this."

"Just let them go," said Lucy. "Please. I'll do anything as long as you don't hurt them."

Mitchell raised his hands up in protest. "Hey, hey, hey. Easy there. Chill out. I'm not going to kill them. I'm going to TURN THEM INTO MONSTERS TO CONQUER THE ENTIRE WORLD."

Everyone gasped hearing that.

"YOU monster!" snarled Jace. "YOU are the monster, you douche-bag!"

At this, Mitchell flew towards Jace and grabbed him by the throat.

"Oh yes," said Mitchell outraged. "I'm a douche-bag. That was what my bullies told me every day. That was what my dad told me. Every day in my life."

He finally let go. "But now, let's see how YOU feel when YOU are the douche-bag who will dominate the entire world. There is no one to save you now…

…let's prepare things now."

* * *

**AN: It almost look like it was all for nothing. Can the world be saved? What's going to happen to Elena, Henry, Bendy, Laura and Spider? Will Mitchell succeed in his plan for 'world domination'? Where will Barrett and Tuesday go? And can Liam be alive?**

**Only time will tell.**

**[1] In case anyone is wondering why Alissa and Damien are acting like jerks towards Sven is because he had been annoying and arrogant ever since they were around him. When they booted him out, Alissa and Damien couldn't help but feel proud; earning a little revenge on Sven.**

**[2] Liam still doesn't know Elena's real name until she told him.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you like this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The grand finale is coming next weekend. Stay tune for this. **


	11. 10 - Curtains Closed

**AN: The finale is here. The final showdown begins now.**

**Just to note, this chapter has scenes from SMG4's '_Mario and the Diss Track_', '_Spider-Man: Far From Home'_ and '_The Angry Birds Movie 2_'.**

**Warning: There is ANOTHER gory scene, but this one is more**** disturbing. If anyone have any concerns, please let me know. **

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Curtains Closed**

**Liam's POV, Years ago**

"_I'M TELLING YOU! YOU SHOULDN'T KEEP ON ACTING LIKE THAT!"_

"_I CAN DO WHAT I WANT, YOU DIRTY INDIAN!"_

"_DO YOU HAVE TO BE __**THIS**_ _STUPID?!"_

"_YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS STUPID WITH THAT STUPID ACCENT YOU HAVE!"_

"_WELL, YOU ARE THE ONE STUPID FOR BREAKING THAT EXPENSIVE VASE!"_

"_IT'S ALREADY OLD AND NOBODY CARES ABOUT IT!"_

"_WELL, I DO!"_

"_TOO BAD, OLD MAN! YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!"_

"_HOW ABOUT YOU GO TO A MUSEUM, BREAK A PORTRAIT AND GET ARRESTED BY THE COPS, YOU BHOSAD PAPPU! GO GAAND MA GHAL FOR ALL I CARE ABOUT!"_

"_THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!"_

"_THAN GO SEARCH IT UP ON THE INTERNET, YOU REBELLIOUS AUTOCRAT!"_

_A loud bang followed this._

"_AI! YOU THROW NOTHING AT ME!"_

"_LIKE I CARE!"_

_I winced as I heard Mitchell stomped out of the house. Who knew what he was going to do._

_I sighed and rested my head onto my desk. I was trying to do my math homework. There were SO MANY questions that I needed to do AND needed to ask._

_One was this stupid question of the possibilities between counters. Nobody could answer that._

_I could have finished my work in 10 seconds, only to hear the bickering between Hawk and Mitchell. Apparently, Mitchell broke a vase and Hawk didn't take it well. They started shouting at each other._

_I would have ignored them or pulled out noise blockers. Unfortunately, for some reason, I decided to listen to them._

_I sighed. Mitchell was always the troublesome one. Ever since we moved into the Tiffany household, Mitchell was always the one to break the rules. He was being racist towards them._

"_Mitchell," I thought sadly. "What REALLY happened to you?"_

_I finally finished my work and put them into my folder._

_I spotted a picture. It was Mitchell and me together. Both of us looked so happy. We had our arms wrapped around each other. Things were so different back then. We were laughing and smiling._

_If it wasn't for my father to become drunk._

_I glared at the picture. I wanted to throw it. But it was a treasure I desired, so I turned to something else._

_I grabbed a pillow on my bed and threw it across the room. The next target I picked up was a book and threw it at the door._

"_DAMN IT!" I yelled._

_THUNK!_

_At this, I turned around and faced the bookshelf. I proceeded to throw all the books to the ground._

_That was when Hawk came in. He was a young man with brown skin, orange eyes and purple short hair with a spike in front. He was wearing a grey singlet and black shorts._

"_Eh…Liam?" said Hawk, worn out from arguing with Mitchell. "Are you OK?"_

_I didn't care. I was holding one book and tore it into half._

_Hawk sighed. "Maybe anger is indeed spreading through the entire family."_

_I stopped for a while. "Why does it matter? I don't have a family now."_

_At this, I took my necklace off and threw it. It hit the wall and bounced onto my bed. I stopped. It was Mum's necklace._

"_But Mitchell is your brother," pointed out Hawk._

_I sighed and put the necklace back around my neck. I couldn't break it. "He no longer is."_

_Hawk sighed. "Look. You two are still related by blood. I'm sure he will still listen to you."_

_My hands clenched into fists. "I bet he won't."_

_At this, I grabbed a baseball and threw it across the room. It hit the picture on my desk, causing it to topple. The glass shattered a bit._

"_You know," said Hawk. "Take a rest. Come out and watch the news with me."_

_I rubbed my face. "I hate watching TV."_ **[1]**

"_Well, kids these days hate sticking their noses into books. Maybe you should be playing my old video games. With your brother."_

"_Why should I? It's been a month ever since my parents disappeared and my brother doesn't worry about them. He isn't the brother I know. The real brother I know would always be concerned of what's happening with his family. Not the other way round. And by the look of things, Liam won't agree with me."_

_Hawk sighed. "Listen. Mitchell…is…your…brother. Locking yourself away from him won't make things right. I haven't been a great role model with kids, but I think you are a better teacher to Mitchell."_

_I rolled my eyes and sat on my bed. "Yeah…if I'm older than him."_

"_Besides, you two were close before right? Maybe you can do that again! Hell, I never get along with my sisters, but you do with your twin. I'm sure that one day when Mitchell is in trouble, you will be on his side. I know that you will help him again soon. Promise that you will continue to look after him…even when Harley and I are not around."_

_I stayed silent for a while. "I…I guess so."_

_I looked at Hawk. "It's pretty nice to know that I can have another father again."_

_Hawk chuckled at this. "Yeah…but we made a deal that you don't call me 'dad'…yet."_

_I finally smiled. "OK. Let's watch."_

"_You'll be fine. Hopefully, you will get over your trauma soon."_

* * *

But that didn't happen.

I never get over my trauma.

I never get to talk some sense to my brother.

I never get to keep that promise.

Three years ago, Hawk made me promise to look out for Mitchell. Three months ago, Lucy made me promise to look out for Mitchell.

And I didn't.

Yeah, I promised that to Hawk, but because Mitchell did some s***ty things, I didn't take Lucy's promise.

And now look at what it got me into.

I tried to talk sense into Mitchell just now. I poured out my entire heart that I felt like I was going to die. I didn't know if I was crying or not.

The next thing I knew, cold steel went through my stomach.

I made no sound at this.

I had been stabbed.

MY brother stabbed me.

MY twin stabbed me.

MY Mitchell stabbed me.

Pain shot through my body.

Blood was seeping through the wound.

Harley and Damien were kind enough to pick me up and carried me to safety. But then, we bumped into Beast Bendy.

I didn't hear what was going on. All I knew was being carried violently and random screams. Everything was going so fast.

I couldn't do anything to help. I was weak. I was dying.

MY OWN BROTHER KILLED ME.

Not yet, but I knew that the wound would let out all my blood. I was close to dying. Not like I cared. I knew that it was a consequence for my misdeeds and God didn't save me.

**I am such a failure.**

* * *

**Elena's POV**

It took us a while to run away from Beast Bendy. We were running through the hallways before finding a door, slamming it in the beast's face. Henry boarded the door with many wooden planks, locking the beast outside. I couldn't help, but shake in fear. The beast slammed the door multiple times, trying to break in.

"Sorry, buddy!" said Bendy. "There can only be one Bendy in this room."

Beast Bendy let out a terrible screech. It kept on banging the door…before it gave up. We were silent as it stomped away.

"Phew," said Henry. "That was close!"

"I hope that he won't bother us anymore," grumbled Bendy.

I nearly collapsed, panting hardly. We were running for a long time and I nearly lost my breath.

"Now what?" I said.

"Liam…" said Spider.

I turned around and gasped. The whole time during the chase, I had forgotten about Liam. He was…badly hurt.

He was sitting on a chair, with a wound through his chest. It was bleeding profoundly. Harley was holding onto his hand, tears in her eyes. Damien was trying to use his bandages to stop the bleeding, but they were too old as he was wearing them on his arms for a long time; blood staining them. Laura was crying a lot, her hands over her mouth. Spider was shaking, wide-eyed.

I let out a shaky sob. That was Liam. The LIAM I knew before. A good friend of mine. Even though I yelled at him to go away. I remembered how kind and caring he was. He became one of the first friends I ever had. I wouldn't know what to do without him. And at that moment, I knew that he wouldn't make it. A part of me hoped that he would, but the negative side kept telling me that he would die.

Still, I managed to swallow my doubt and crept towards Liam. The latter was struggling to stay awake, giving a pained look.

"Please…" said Harley, tears filling in her eyes. "Please…please hold on."

Liam used the last of his strength to open his eyes. They were half-lid. He saw Laura…Spider…and me.

"G…g…guys…" he choked out.

"Don't worry," said Spider. "We are here for you."

"Is he going to make it?" asked Laura trembling.

Damien placed a hand onto the part where Liam's heart would be. I noticed that his hand was stained in red. All of a sudden, Damien let out a small gasp.

"D-Damien?" said Laura.

Damien shook his head and looked down in grief.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"I-it's alright," coughed Liam. "I know you can't."

"No…" said Laura. "No…no…you can't die. We can still fix this."

"No…we…we can't."

"Maybe there is medical equipment here," said Spider helpfully.

Damien looked around the room. It was empty. Nothing but a table and one chair that Liam was in. He jerked his head out and let out a howl of frustration.

"DAMN IT!" yelled Damien as he kicked the table roughly. "T-this isn't how things are supposed to be!"

Liam sighed. "M-maybe it is…for me…"

I shook my head. "You're wrong…"

I grabbed his hand. "Please…stay with me."

A few tears formed in Liam's eyes. "G…guys…I'm…I'm sorry…sorry for everything…this…this is all my fault…"

"Hey," said Laura. "It's not your fault."

Liam was silent for a while. Trembling, he slowly took out a gold heart-shaped necklace out from his jacket and gave it to Laura.

"H…h…here…" he said. "H…have this. I want you to keep it."

Laura gasped as Liam dropped the necklace into her hand.

"W-what?" said Laura. "N-no! It belongs to you."

"I-I insist," stuttered Liam.

"I insist TEN TIMES. This belongs to you. Not me."

"N-no…it's…it looks good on you. I always believe that this brings good luck…now…I think it's time to pass my mother's necklace."

A lump formed into my throat. That necklace came from his mother. And who knows where the hell she was.

"Please…" said Spider. "We are here for you. It is OK. We will take care of you."

"Yeah…" muttered Liam. "I-it's OK…just…stop Mitchell for me…at least I get to see my parents wherever they are."

"No…" said Laura, her eyes welling up in tears. "Please…we need you…"

Liam looked down. "But I get to see my friends one last time."

I heard Henry wincing at this.

"Liam," wept Harley. "Please stay…"

"No…" said Liam, closing his eyes. "T-this is what I deserved."

"No…don't say things like that," said Laura.

"This is what I deserved…"

"Please don't go, man," said Spider.

"This is what I got…"

"We still need you," I said, my voice breaking.

"I deserve to die…"

"You don't deserve to," said Damien. "You were a good guy."

"I failed to protect my brother…"

"We can still help you!" said Bendy.

"God already punished me…"

"Please," said Laura, shaking Liam. "Please don't go. Wake up. Please! I-I need you! I…I love you."

With a dying breath, Liam let out this.

"I deserve this…"

And then, he was…motionless. His chest stopped moving. His eyes were closed and his jaw was left opened. All of his blood finally spilled out from his wound.

Liam Von Richmond…

…was GONE.

At the sight of this, Harley placed her forehead onto Liam's hand…starting to weep.

"Please…" wept Harley. "Please wake up…"

But there were no words coming out from Liam's lips. It was as if his whole voice left the now dead body.

Laura had her hands over her mouth. Her eyes were watery. Henry nearly had the tears. In a need of comfort, Laura hugged Henry.

"It's OK," said Henry, trying his best to sound confident. "I'm here for you."

"Not all for us, that is," said Laura grimly.

I let out a quiet cry when I heard that. That was one of the few rare moments Laura would become…negative. And at the sight of her boyfriend dying in front of her, I feared that Laura would never be the same again.

I saw Bendy. He looked shaken.

The little demon quickly hugged Damien's legs, covering his face. An uneasy and sympathetic look appeared on the latter's face as he wrapped his arms around Bendy.

For me – without no sunglasses – my eyes were exposed for everyone to see. I couldn't help, but cry a bit. To think that one of the first few friends I ever made in my life would…die in front of me. Someone I cared about deeply died in front of me…again. Just like my parents.

Spider was in a horrible shape. He was trembling and twitching badly. Tears were coming out from his eyes. His mouth was shaking. Emotions of frustration, grief and confusion surrounded him.

And then…his teeth clenched.

Out of the blue, Spider's dark grey eyes turned BLACK.

"**DAMN IT!**" yelled Spider, stomping the floor. "I SWEAR I WILL MAKE MITCHELL PAY FOR ALL OF THIS!"

Laura immediately adjust herself from her grieving and turned to Spider with a fearful look.

"Spider!" she said. "Hold on! We can still fix this! We might be able to get Liam back!"

"There is no other way," said Harley sadly. "The only people who will be back to normal once we fix this is the people who turned into ink monsters. We can't take back lost lives."

There was fire burning in Laura's eyes. "Cut…that…s***…out. I'm tired of putting up with this stuff. There MUST be a way!"

"But…but the problem is…" said Henry. "That Mitchell person is too powerful. We can't stand up to him. And I guess that erasing his pentagrams is therefore USELESS."

"Wait…he said that all his powers are stored in the staff he was holding right? We…we can destroy it!"

"Destroy it?!" I said.

"Yeah! If we do, everything will turn back to normal!"

"T-that's not set in stone."

"Then why are we just wasting our time standing around here?" growled Spider. "Let's get back out there!"

"No!" said Henry. "It's too dangerous! We haven't come up with a plan of how to stop Mitchell."

"Who cares? Just suck up your ass and let's drill him to the floor already before he does his FREAKING F***ING RITUAL!"

Bendy turned to Spider. "Dude! Seriously! Chill down and mind your language!"

If Spider's eyes would go darker, they would because HE LOST IT.

"**DON'T TELL ME TO CHILL, BENDY!**" he suddenly yelled. "AND STOP ACTING LIKE SOME KIND OF SMARTASS GRANNY! How can I chill when all of this was for NOTHING?! I trusted Mitchell and he betrayed me and EVERYONE ELSE for the sake of power! I thought he was my friend, so I helped him for his quest for power, right? And now he killed Liam! HE KILLED HIS TWIN BROTHER LIAM! I have an older brother, Lucy has an older brother, Clyde has an older brother and yet Mitchell decided to kill the brother he was close to?! Even when Liam was trying to reach out for him?! I thought that someday Mitchell would – for once – stop all of this s***, but now he's going to kill all our friends and the rest of the world and you have the NERVE to tell me to chill?!"

He stopped for a while, trying to catch his breath. Bendy stood still like a statue, too startled to move.

I wasn't thinking straight because I leaped and got Spider into a tight but comfortable hug. I continued to say 'I'm sorry' into his chest, trying to calm him down.

It seemed to work because Spider whimpered a bit. When I let go, his eyes turned from black to a light shade of grey.

"I-I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't yell…I…I…I just can't believe that Liam is gone…even worse…he…he believed that…he should die…"

"Just like me on the day my parents died…" said Damien in a hushed voice.

"We can still get Liam back, right?" asked Laura, trying to grab onto some hope.

Henry shook his head. "Laura…dear, I'm sorry. I…again…I don't think we can take someone's life back."

Bendy groaned. "Getting emotional is getting us nowhere! Now we are all stuck here and soon we will be dead like Liam."

"We can't be here for any longer," pointed out Damien. "We need to move. We have to stop Mitchell."

"But how?" said Harley. "We can't stop him. He's too powerful. We can't wrench the staff out from his hand."

An idea bulb went over Bendy's head. "…does he have a weakness?"

Harley shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know what his weakness is. As a 'god', that is impossible. Unless it's something he hates very much."

My eyes widened up. "Well…one thing, he hates rock music."

All eyes peered at me. "What?"

"Sorry…it sounds kind of stupid."

Spider's eyes turned back to dark grey; his normal eye color. "Hold up. Please…keep going. He hates rock?"

I nodded. "Uh…yeah? And he can't really stand it. He hates rock 'n' roll music. That's pretty ironic since he raps to some old cringy music."

"But hip hop isn't bad!" said Bendy.

"And…how was he before?" questioned Spider. "I mean…was he…nice? Before he molested you?"

I took a deep breath and went through memory trip lane. It took me a while to find a memory when Mitchell was acting nice. I thought back of what happened before he took sexual abuse on me…and I realized something.

"Before…" I said. "He was…actually nice."

Laura wiped her tears. "H…he was?"

"Yeah," I said. "And he has a crush on me. I know this because at first, he truly likes me and doesn't see me as some kind of tool to use."

"But how come…?" said Damien quietly.

Harley looked up. "She's…she's right. And Mitchell only became so corrupted when he watched those horrible shows he saw on TV. That was what influenced him to become…this now."

"What TV shows?" asked Laura.

"Not now," said Henry. "What are we getting out of this?"

Spider smirked, a renewed confidence swept over him. "We can make a distraction that will not only prevent Mitchell from doing the ritual, but sway him so much. This will create the perfect distraction to get his staff and destroy it."

"Before we destroy it," said Laura. "Can we get Liam back to life?"

We all looked at the corpse. Liam was still lifeless. The blood was already dried.

A light shone over his dead face.

"There's still hope," said Spider.

He looked at me.

"I want you to take the lead."

"W-what?" I said. "What do you mean?"

"Just for you to shine…and YOU are the closest to Mitchell. You were his boyfriend before."

I felt nervous. "I…I don't know."

Bendy held onto my hand. "Elena. We need to do this. Mitchell broke your glasses!"

I gulped. Just a few minutes ago, Mitchell broke my sunglasses – the only thing left from my mother. But after what happened so far, I couldn't bring myself to stand up against Mitchell. Not even getting revenge.

"Elena," said Bendy. "I know that you are scared…OK yeah…you are VERY scared more than me. I wish I can help, but I don't know that Mitchell man as much as you do. I…I know that you are not really the kindest or the greatest person…but…you trust me. I've seen you grow into a better person. I know that you can do it…and you can probably do it on your own. But for now, we need all the help we can get. So…do you TRUST us for this plan?"

I stayed quiet for a while. I remembered back throughout our journey.

My reluctance towards Bendy.

My reluctance towards boys.

My reluctance towards the Black Skulls.

My reluctance towards showing my true eyes.

However…I did change.

I understood Bendy better.

I understood others better.

Hell, I learnt how to finally open things up. It still sounded a bit cheesy, but…I felt relieved at that time.

And yet, who would I trust at that moment?

I finally drew in all the confidence and nodded. "OK. I will do it."

"But what are we going to do?" said Damien. "What's the plan?"

"We are going to teach Mitchell a lesson," said Spider smiling. "A lesson that he will NEVER forget."

* * *

**Third Person's POV**

"Hey," said Jace. "Why is everything dark all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," said Alissa bluntly. "Maybe because Mitchell turned off the lights 3 minutes ago?"

BONG!

"Ow!" yelped Draco. "What is this?"

"We are trapped…" said Sven.

"Hey Clyde," asked Jace. "Can you see anything?"

"I'm not a jackal," grumbled Clyde. "Because I have yellow eyes doesn't mean that I can see in the dark."

Without warning, the lights suddenly turned on. Almost all the teens cried in pain at the hot sensation from the lights.

They finally saw where they were in.

They were in a large cage that was made from wooden planks. The door was locked with a lock. They were in the middle of the huge pentagram.

Hanging on the ceiling above them was a LARGE BUCKET OF INK.

The size of a SWIMMING POOL.

They saw that the pentagram was surrounded by several ink monsters. They were cheering – in a strange gurgling noise – or booing, throwing waves of ink balls at the cage.

SPLAT!

One ink ball hit Sven in the face.

"ARGH!" screamed Sven. "Yuck! I just washed my beautiful face! OK, now I'm pissed!"

Pitbull grabbed onto one of the wooden planks and tried to break it…BUT IT WOULDN'T BUDGE!

Draco gasped as he turned to the stage. On there was Mitchell. His hood was off, revealing his blonde hair. Next to him was Lucy; because she became his 'servant', she was FORCED to wear a black dress and handcuffs, so that she wouldn't save her friends.

Jace looked down. He failed to save his girlfriend…or able to help her. He and the rest of them were going to die. At least Lucy wouldn't suffer more.

Draco looked around. Elena, Laura, Bendy, Henry, Harley or Liam were nowhere to be seen. And Liam? Oh…Liam…must be dead at that moment.

"ATTENTION EVERY INK MONSTER!" announced Liam. "ARE YOU ALL READY?"

All the ink monsters let out another cheer. Some of them were throwing their own 'fireworks' into the air; which were just sprinkles of thick ink.

"WHO'S READY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD?" called Liam.

All the ink monsters cheered louder.

"WHO'S READY TO SEE THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE GREATEST CREATIONS EVER MADE?"

More louder.

"WHO'S READY TO TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE WORLD AND DO WHATEVER YOU WANT?"

More louder.

But that cheer was nowhere near loud when Mitchell said this.

"THE FUTURE IS NOW AND NOTHING CAN STOP US! Let's begin!"

All the ink monsters went quiet. Mitchell held onto his staff with both hands…and closed his eyes.

He started to mutter something.

"What's going on?" said Jace.

"I don't want to know," whispered Draco in dread.

Mitchell was suddenly surrounded by a white aura. The aura gradually changed from white…to blue…to black…to red…and then to gold. He was hovering into the air. The staff's orb was glowing brighter than the sun and it couldn't hold onto all the power for that much like a fully-charged phone about to burst.

"ARE YOU ALL READY?" shouted Mitchell.

All the ink monsters cheered.

The bucket of ink above started to…bubble…steam…get hot.

Draco realized what that meant.

"10…9…8…"

Draco pushed through his friends to get to the door.

"What are you doing?" asked Alissa.

"Breaking us out!" shouted Draco. "What do you expect?"

"7…6…5…"

Draco managed to get to the door. He picked up the lock…and caught a look on it.

"4…3…2…"

Draco's confident smile faded away.

THE LOCK KEYHOLE WAS SO SMALL.

It was the shape of a circle and the size of a tiny straw.

"Oh no," said Draco.

"1…!"

"LET'S DO THIS!" yelled Mitchell, raising his staff into the air.

"NO!" screamed Lucy.

Lucy tried to stop him, but her hands were tied in handcuffs and held back by ink monsters.

Draco bent down and put his hands over his eyes.

"I…I failed everyone," he said.

Before Mitchell could slam the bottom of his staff onto the ground, a new voice entered the room.

"WAIT! MITCHELL!"

Everyone froze. Mitchell turned around. Coming from the entrance was a woman who seemed to be in her thirties or forties. She had light peach skin, blonde hair that reached her shoulders and blue eyes that looked…warm…kind…beautiful.

"Wow," said Sven. "She looks pretty."

Everyone was shocked at the newcomer. But nobody could gasp the loudest than Mitchell.

The woman there stood there. She stared at Mitchell in betrayal…before softening in guilt.

"M-Mitchell…" she said. "M-my son."

The ink monsters started to growl.

Mitchell raised a finger in the air, motioning the monsters to be quiet.

"That's your mother?" said Lucy in surprise.

Mitchell didn't say a word. Nobody needed to ask him who that woman was.

Mrs Von Richmond slowly walked over to Mitchell…the latter started to narrow his eyes.

"Mitchell…my son…" said Mrs Von Richmond nervously but tried to remain calm. "I'm here…you…you have grown so much! I'm happy to see you!"

"Really?" said Mitchell with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "Right now you decided to show up?"

Mrs Von Richmond sighed. "I…I know. I left you all alone. I didn't mean to! I was…I was just so overwhelmed by everything that happened. I thought that if I ran away from my home, then all my problems would be out of my hair!"

Jace's eyes were filled with light. "Hair…hair…hair?"

He slowly looked at the keyhole. It was ridiculously small. That meant…

"Clyde," whispered Jace.

"What?" whispered Clyde.

"Take off your hairband NOW!"

"Huh? Why are you-?"

"GIVE ME THE F***ING HAIRBAND!" hissed Jace quietly.

At this, Jace grabbed onto Clyde's bun, trying to take it off. Clyde started to panic. Fortunately, Mitchell was too busy listening to Mrs Von Richmond's excuse.

"B-but now," she said, close to tears. "I-I realize that I'm just running away from the people I'm supposed to take care of…I want to say…"

Tears formed in the adult's eyes.

"I-I'm so sorry. I should have known that something is wrong with your father. I should have taken you and Liam away ever since he yelled…I…I just want to be away from the pain my entire life…but now…I have to face it. So…"

She collapsed onto her knees and held her hands out.

"So please! Don't kill those poor children! Don't hurt others! Take me instead!"

Mitchell just stared at his own long-lost mother for a long time…before slapping her hand away.

"You have some F***ING NERVE!" shouted Mitchell, his front bangs gradually fell apart slightly. "You think that it's all about you, mum?"

Meanwhile, Jace successfully ripped the band off Clyde's hair.

"OW!" hissed Clyde.

"Quiet!" said Jace. He took a long and thin row of ripped-out hair that was wrapped around the band.

"What are you doing?" said Clyde, pissed by confused. "I don't understand."

"Not now," said Jace. He placed the strings into the lock hole. It fit!

Clyde bit his lip, his fangs nearly piercing the skin. "We could have just used your hair."

"Mine's too strong."

Jace blinked…and saw that the hair strings he grabbed turned gold…and so did Clyde's streak on his black hair.

"Gold," said Jace smirking. "The color of hope."

Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Mitchell still didn't take note of his captives. "You really think I did all of this because of you?"

Mrs Von Richmond sighed in guilt. "Well…it seems to be, but-!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excuses, blah, blah, blah…sure it was YOU who ran away from me. You didn't do anything to stand up for me from my drunk dad. I still remembered how pathetic you were…always crying like a baby. It makes me want to puke. But no…I'm not doing all of this because of you. What do you think this is? A STUPID REVENGE STORY?! I'm doing this, so that I can get all of this power. Nobody can hurt me. Nobody can destroy me. And no matter what they think OR say about me, I have the power to change their minds. And I will take over the world. First Earth and then THE UNIVERSE!"

"THAT'S INSANE!" argued Draco, rattling the cage. "You just want to rule EVERYTHING?! That is so unacceptable!"

Mitchell turned to Draco, but didn't see Jace using Clyde's hair in an attempt to open the lock.

"Unacceptable?" questioned Mitchell furiously. "UNACCEPTABLE?! Let me tell you what's unacceptable, dirt. BEING ABUSED, INSULTED AND PUT DOWN BY BULLIES AND YOUR OWN FATHER! It's about time for me to rise and put all of these things in the past. Let them all die. I need to become the greatest god in the universe, so that my UNACCEPTABLE childhood won't repeat again! I am not going to be some kind of old woman who just continue to cry all day on the floor."

"So…you're just doing this to feel powerful?" said Mrs Von Richmond in a hushed voice. "Just to throw EVERYTHING away?"

"LISTEN, PUSSY!" yelled Mitchell, turning around. "I'm done with you, I'm done with your stinky husband and I'm done with my brother! I'm done with EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IN THIS CHAOS DAMNED WORLD! And to think…the actions I did…the things I did to get me here so far…"

"But is this what they want for you?" asked Mrs Von Richmond.

"I KILLED LIAM AND MY FATHER ALREADY FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

Everyone gasped. Not at the fact that Mitchell killed Liam…but he killed his OWN FATHER. But Mrs Von Richmond was horrified by this.

"W-what?" said Mrs Von Richmond. "Y-you killed them?"

Mitchell was fuming. His eyes were flickering from white and blue to black and red, and his front bangs pointing in different directions. "You really think your husband disappeared because he ran away?! Let me put it this way; I decided to punish that son of a b****! I drugged him when he was asleep and dragged his body to the nearest incinerator! I managed to kill him without anyone finding out, so good riddance to him!"

Mrs Von Richmond looked down as she absorbed the news into her skin. "So…you…you REALLY killed your father? My husband? You…you don't care about him?"

"HELL NO!"

Hearing this, Mrs Von Richmond broke down into tears. The emotion also impacted other people in this room. All the ink monsters looked down. Lucy started to cry as well. Alissa held onto her mouth. Sven was wide-eyed, his mouth opened. Draco was spilling hot angry tears. Clyde couldn't help, but sob as well.

Jace was still busy, but stopped, wincing at the fact that Mitchell killed his own father. He fiddled the hair in the lock hole…

…and it worked!

There was a click and the lock fell down. The door slightly opened.

"Yes!" whispered Jace.

Mitchell was still oblivious to the cage. "Uh…YOU'RE WELCOME, MUM! You should be grateful for me to get rid of your husband!"

"B-but that's not nice!" wept Mrs Von Richmond in broken tears. "I still love him and I would want to help him from his mental illness!"

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Well, he wasn't a good father. He deserves to die!"

"What about Liam? You killed him?"

Lucy sighed. "Ma'am…Mitchell just took Liam's life a few minutes ago. I'm so sorry."

Overwhelmed by the news of this, Mrs Von Richmond became a mess. She wept and fat tears ruined her beautiful face.

"B-but they don't deserve this!" she cried. "I…I still love them. They loved me…they loved YOU!"

Mitchell's eye twitched. "They never loved me. They don't care about me. Therefore, they get what they deserved. But now, that doesn't' matter. Now, I'm gonna be sitting back and watch my ink monsters conquer the world. And if you REALLY think that you are going to take that away from me, then…you…are…FREAKING **WRONG!**"

He lifted his staff up into the air.

"NO!" screamed Mrs Von Richmond.

Too late.

But too soon.

The bucket that was hanging from the ceiling suddenly disappeared. The carried ink fell down, about to splash onto the cage.

At the same time, Jace managed to get him and the others get out of the cage. Draco was about to help Alissa get out when he saw the ink about to fall on top of them.

"LET'S GO!" he screamed.

At this, the two Black Skulls quickly jumped out of the cage, narrowly missing the ink. The ink splashed onto the cage, covering the WHOLE THING. When the ink dried, it turned into a black wired cage with cruel curly features.

Mitchell expected to see new ink monsters…but he didn't.

"W-What?" he said. "But how?"

That was when he spotted Jace…with a mischievous smirk on his face, fiddling with the lock in his fingers.

And that was when the ink monsters FINALLY noticed.

Mitchell gritted his teeth. "You…you…you **bastards.**"

Jace frowned. He realized that getting out of the cage was a bad idea…when surrounded by millions of ink monsters.

"SEIZE THEM!" yelled Mitchell.

At this, a loud bloodcurdling shriek came out from the crowd and a portion of the ink monsters surrounded the teens. They grabbed them so that they couldn't escape. At one point, Sven tried to break free but was under the threat of having his face ripped opened.

"Oh shoot," he winced as an ink monster grabbed his face.

"Don't kill them yet!" called Mitchell. "We need them!"

Mrs Von Richmond quickly snapped out from her trauma. Despite having her mind focused on the loss of her husband and son, she knew that she had to do the right thing.

"MITCHELL!" she said in a surprisingly firm tone. "That's enough! I think it's about time you stop!"

"ENOUGH?!" snapped Mitchell. "I'll say when it's enough!"

"But it's too much!" pointed out Lucy. "Please don't!"

"SHUT UP OR I WILL MAKE YOU JOIN YOUR FILTHY FRIENDS!"

Mitchell turned to the ink monsters. "This isn't over! We must do the ritual again! We can't let our future end right here!"

"**NOW!**"

Mitchell was caught off guard when he heard another voice. "What?"

Before anyone could figure out what was going on, the lights turned off. The darkness filled the entire place. Gunfire could be heard and the screeches of the ink monsters. That was the only thing anyone could hear. And then, the lights turned back on.

The teens found themselves surrounded by – no, not ink monsters – but many ink monsters…dying.

"W-what's going on?" said Draco.

"Look!" said Jace, pointing upwards.

Everyone looked at the high parts of the room. Apparently, the slaves who were working in the mines had used the high balconies and grabbed a hold of several guns. They managed to shoot ALL THE INK MONSTERS.

Anyone who wasn't shot looked at the dying ink monsters. Those creatures let out weak screams as they slowly dropped to the floor like dead flies. One by one, they collapsed onto the floor before they melt into black ink puddles.

The whole floor became stained in ink.

Lucy looked at her hands. The handcuffs mysteriously disappeared. She turned around to see who slaughtered the guards who held her back.

It was Allison.

With a sword.

Mitchell was outraged. "What?!"

Allison gave a nasty smile. "Hello there, fiend."

Mitchell grunted in annoyance and rolled his eyes. "Oh. This is rich. This is VERY rich. I thought that I got rid of you."

Allison got into an attack position, pointing her sword at Mitchell. "Now, it's time to take you down."

"Yeah!" called one of the slaves on the balconies. "We are here to stop you!"

"Your reign and your evil plans are over!" called another.

"Let's see how you feel when you die!"

"You will pay for this, you monster!"

Mitchell looked around, hearing all the insults from the many slaves he kidnapped and tormented. It was almost like the time when…when…

This created a burning feeling in Mitchell's chest. His eyes narrowed…and glowed.

"ENOUGH!" he screamed.

He let out a shock-wave of black energy, causing nearly everyone to fall down.

"I have enough of this nonsense once and for all!" Mitchell ranted, looking more savage than before. "Just wait until I get my hands on each and every one of your throats!"

"Not if I can't help it!" said Allison, running towards Mitchell.

Before she could attack, Mitchell banged his staff onto the ground. At this, a large INKY HAND came out and grabbed Allison.

"ARGH!" she screamed, struggling to get out. "Not again!"

"Now," snarled Mitchell. "Shall we finish this?"

"You will never get away from this!"

"I just did. It's time to-!"

That was when everything went into slow motion. He heard something flying behind him. He slowly turned around.

It was Tuesday.

In a lion-like pounce.

"FOR JUSTICE AND HER MAJESTY!" she exclaimed.

Mitchell screamed at a high pitch…before being tackled to the ground.

Within seconds, he found himself playing a tug-of-war with Tuesday, trying to get the staff.

"GIVE MY STAFF BACK!" yelled Mitchell.

"NO WAY!" screamed Tuesday. "HOZAY!"

"LET GO!"

"YOU LET GO!"

"I WILL NOT LET ANYONE TAKE MY DESTINY AWAY FROM ME-!"

He was cut off when Barrett went flying through the air, managing to kick Mitchell in the face. The latter fell onto the floor. Tuesday picked up the staff. Barrett tutted.

"Pathetic," he said.

"Barrett!" said Lucy overjoyed. "You're alive!"

"I'm glad you're here, bro!" said Jace happily.

Most of the teens seeing Barrett. Spider would be happy if he was there to see it.

But it was not over.

Mitchell slowly got up and turned around.

From the distance, he saw Tuesday with the staff.

Everything went red for him.

"**YOU GIVE ME BACK MY STAFF RIGHT NOW!**" screamed Mitchell.

Using the power he had in his body, Mitchell charged towards Tuesday. Fortunately, Barrett quickly stood in front and stopped him with both of his hands.

"Whoa!" said Barrett, feeling his feet grinded the ground. "Almost feel like I have the power of Superman!"

Mitchell stopped. He stood back, growling. He slowly took out a KNIFE.

THE SAME ONE HE USED WHEN FIGHTING BARRETT BEFORE.

This time, it had a flaming purple aura.

"I guess that we have to repeat history again, huh?" said Mitchell dangerously.

"No," said Barrett. "This time, I'm just going to stop you from doing all of this."

"By how? Killing me?"

Barrett stayed silent. "We got your staff already, so back down now!"

Mitchell shook his head. "Let's be fair."

He turned his head to look at Tuesday. "TUESDAY! Drop…that…staff…NOW. You have to the count of three to do so!"

He pointed the knife at Barrett's throat. The blonde green-eyed teen winced at the sight of this.

"1…" counted Mitchell.

Tuesday gasped at what he was intending to do.

Barrett started to tremble…until he realized why he was in that very position.

He quickly swung his fist up to punch Mitchell's knife, but Mitchell held at his own good. Not giving up, Mitchell slammed his elbow onto Barrett's hands, causing the latter to lose concentration. Mitchell took advantage of this by slamming his fist at his opponent's face.

Barrett tried to fight back, but Mitchell was winning the fight. He found himself being kicked to the ground before Mitchell grabbed him by his right arm, getting rid of any chances for him to escape.

Tuesday was close to tears.

"2…" counted Mitchell.

"TUESDAY!" yelled Barrett, battered and dazed. "DON'T! Destroy that staff now or else our home will-!"

Mitchell wasn't happy to hear his protest. Deciding to cut the knot, he lifted the knife…

…AND WENT FOR THE BAIT.

SLICE!

Barrett screamed as he felt a cold, sharp blade cut through his right arm. Screams of agony escaped through his mouth as the arm came off. But to his surprise, the pain disappeared. **[2]**

The now-detached right arm fell onto the ground and…turned into ashes. Barrett felt numb. His eyes widened. He looked at the part where his right arm USED TO BE…

…only to find out that it was gone…

…no blood or bones or flesh could be seen pouring out…

…there was no wound…

…it was if the arm wasn't MEANT to be there in the first place.

Tears welled in his eyes. He couldn't believe that he lost a limb. But the question was how come Mitchell was able to cut off the arm without spilling blood? What did he REALLY do? Did he used his powers to do that?

It must be the knife. Mitchell did something to it to make it THIS powerful.

It was still a horrible sight.

"BARRETT!" cried Lucy.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" howled Draco through tears. "YOU ARE GOING TOO FAR!"

"Sure I am," said Mitchell, showing his sharp teeth. "But THIS TIME, I will go for the HEAD."

"Tuesday…" whispered Barrett, trembling as he felt Mitchell placing the knife near his neck. "Don't…"

Tuesday was shaking. She couldn't bring herself to give in the staff OR save Barrett. She knew that she had to destroy the staff for the world's sake, not at Barrett's. But she didn't want to see her friend die.

All the people on the balconies pointed their guns at Mitchell. They had to do something before another life was taken.

"P-please…" choked Tuesday.

Mitchell scoffed. "**3…**"

Barrett closed his eyes…and waited for the inevitable.

But it never came.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"

To Mitchell's surprise, his mother quickly rammed herself into him. Mitchell dropped to the ground…in front of Tuesday.

Reviving, Mitchell got up, grabbed the staff and kicked Tuesday away. He turned around, ready to unleash his full power.

And saw his mother holding his knife.

She pointed it in front of Mitchell, shaking badly.

"M-Mitchell…" stuttered Mrs Von Richmond. "Please…this won't change everything…"

Mitchell narrowed his eyes. "I will never ever listen to you, you washed-up cow. I don't need any more idiots like you."

"For once," wept Lucy. "Will you listen to your mother? The woman who loved you?"

There was a troubled look on Mitchell's face as he heard that…but then shrugged it off.

"Again, I won't listen to anyone…AGAIN."

"HOW ABOUT YOU LISTEN TO THIS?!" said another voice.

"What?"

Mitchell looked down to see where the source of the sound came from.

It was a BOMB.

Mitchell, Barrett, Tuesday, Mrs Von Richmond and Lucy were thrown back by the explosion. They landed in front of the teens.

Jace quickly helped Lucy get up while Draco and Clyde helped Barrett get up.

"Barrett…" whispered Clyde nervously.

"Are you OK?" asked Draco in concern.

"I'm fine," said Barrett. "My right arm is…gone."

Suddenly, the lights turned off.

"What the?!" said Mitchell confused.

One light turned on…shining on the stage. It revealed to be Laura…with an electric guitar.

She started to play the intro for 'Darkest Hour'.

Another light turned on in sync, revealing Damien with an electric guitar, playing as well.

"What?" said Mitchell, confused and aggravated. "What the hell is this?!"

Another light turned on from behind the two guitarists, revealing Bendy…on the drums, wearing a top hat and a mustache.

The last light turned on, showing Elena with crossed arms and had a microphone in front of her.

That was when the epic kicker came in.

Laura and Damien started to play the loud tune of the song with Bendy banging the drums. To Mitchell's confusion, there were a lot of red spotlights shining on him. Everyone stood still, wondering what that was all about. Even the gunners on the balconies decided to watch, wanting to see what that band had to say to Mitchell.

Elena snapped her eyes opened like a feral wolf and sang the first verse, referring to Mitchell. She had her flaming eyes on him, refusing to look away or blink.

Mitchell – the once known to be the Mighty Mykrylais – was now a deer in headlights. He couldn't bear hearing the rock music and what Elena was singing to him. It reminded him of how powerful he was as a rapper…but this performance…was much louder than his music.

As Elena sang through the verse with reckless emotions, Mitchell felt as if the world was spinning. At one point, the world around him glitched, disappearing from his sight.

He was hallucinating.

He saw himself in a dark world with a dim spotlight on him.

Then, more spotlights shone around him, this time brighter. Beneath those bright spotlights were…his friends.

EX-friends.

Ranging from Spider, Laura, Jace, Lucy, Draco, Clyde, Alissa, Damien, Sven, Barrett, Tuesday…

…and his brother Liam.

Jace, Draco, Alissa, Damien and Sven were giving Mitchell icy glares while the rest looked devastated.

And then, the visions of those young people disappeared around Mitchell.

It was just him in the darkness…

…but he could hear from behind him, Elena was singing from behind him; the only person left.

As the chorus kicked in, Mitchell snapped back into reality when he felt somebody tugging on his staff.

It was Henry.

Kicking away the guilt, Mitchell started to fight over the staff over Henry.

But Henry was too strong.

He snatched the staff and ran off. Mitchell tried to chase after him, but Allison quickly pinned him to the ground.

"DESTROY IT, MR STEIN!" yelled Jace.

Making his way to the middle, Henry lifted up the staff and was about to smash it…

…until something fell through the ceiling.

IT WAS BEAST BENDY.

The ink beast let out a roar as it fell onto Henry. Its dark body looked like as if it was a REAL demon that fell from the black night sky. Henry quickly dodged and the beast landed with a sickening crunch. Almost everyone screamed at the sight of this.

Elena gasped.

Laura, Damien and Bendy nearly faltered, but decided to continue to play the music, knowing that Henry would be fine. With Elena distracted by Beast Bendy, Laura and Damien decided to sing the second verse together.

Beast Bendy turned around at Henry, a shadow ready to overtake him. It pounced, but the latter dodged to the side. The adult had to get away from the beast or he wouldn't be able to destroy the staff.

But that was the least of his problems.

Mitchell let out a shock-wave, throwing Allison away. He ran after Henry, dodging the bullets shot from the gunners on the balconies. Henry was too focused on avoiding Beast Bendy that he didn't see the blonde teen charging towards him.

That was when the chorus played again.

Without warning, Mitchell grabbed the staff. Henry noticed. The two started another tug-of-war, trying to pull the staff away from each other.

However, Mitchell had a back-up.

As swift as a shadow, Beast Bendy grabbed Henry from behind and threw him across the room. There was a loud thud as Henry crashed onto the wall.

"HENRY!" cried Elena.

Mitchell smirked, about to unleash his powers. However, he started to hallucinate again. This time, his mind was repeatedly filled with many memories.

The time when he played with Liam.

The time when Liam stood up for him from bullies.

The time when he found his first love with Elena.

The time when he made new friends in Brooklyn.

The time when he became a rap star.

But those happy moments were no more for him.

Mitchell nearly fell apart, but used the last of his determination to not be defeated. He wasn't going down without a fight. He turned to the stage, where the band finished the chorus. He was about to blow when the gunners took fire.

At this, Laura and Damien played a wicked and epic guitar solo with Bendy banging the drums as hard as he could. For some reason, fireworks and ink were spraying across the room.

Mitchell couldn't see clearly. The bullets were flying all over him; they bounced off his indestructible body, but they were making it difficult for him to move. The flashing lights from the stage were making him feel disoriented. It was too overwhelming that Mitchell only had one thing in mind.

Run.

He turned on his heel and ran off. Despite the raining bullets, he made it to the other side of the room.

"STOP HIM!" yelled Allison.

But Mitchell was about to escape. He made his way to a large door; the way out from his problems.

But he couldn't escape.

The door slammed open revealing Spider with a red electric guitar.

Mitchell screamed as he saw Spider.

The multi-colored haired teen gave the blonde teen a deadly glare, ready to shoot out hatred-fueled daggers.

To Mitchell's confusion, he saw Harley…wielding a vacuum machine.

She changed the system from 'suction' to 'blow'.

Spider raised his hand up – with a wicked grin – and strike his fingers on the guitar strings. As if to emphasis his powerful act, Harley turned on the vacuum machine.

It was effective.

Because Mitchell tampered it before, the machine let out a huge burst of wind, blowing him across the room. He landed in the middle of the room.

Regaining confidence, Elena closed her eyes and sang the final pre-chorus. Spider did the same and sang as well.

Both of them opened their eyes. Taking control of the room, Elena's eyes suddenly turned red while Spider's turned black.

As the final chorus began, Mitchell got up. He still had the staff in his hands. However, something stopped him.

He saw in front of him were the group of his ex-friends; half of them seething in vengeance while the other half looked frightened. On the side was his mother; who had to run all the way to get to him…only to be rejected. On the balconies were the gunners; the slaves he kidnapped and tortured. Elena and Spider; singing on the sides about how they once trusted Mitchell, but they were lied to.

A mixture of emotions swam around Mitchell. There was one specific feeling he had never felt before.

**Guilt.**

Allison quickly grabbed the distracted Mitchell from behind, trying to get the staff. Henry saw this as his last chance to stop all of this once and for all.

However, Beast Bendy was in front of him.

The beast let out its roar, presenting its ugly sharp teeth. Henry quickly stopped, but that was when the beast pounced.

It opened its mouth wide, ready to have its second human meal. Thinking quickly, Henry waited until the beast came near and grabbed the side of its lips; opening the jaws. The beast tried to move, but this time, Henry was stronger.

He threw the beast away.

With Beast Bendy out of the way, Henry ran straight to Mitchell. At this, Mitchell snapped out from his miserable state and saw his staff being snatched out of his hands once again.

Not giving up, a roaring Mitchell broke free from Allison and tried to use his powers to kill Henry. Despite not being a fast or acrobatic person, Henry had to use the staff for defense. He held onto it as white lasers clashed onto it. The staff didn't break for some reason. Henry looked at the orb.

At that moment, he saw why the staff didn't snap in half.

With Elena and Spider finishing singing the last chorus, Laura, Damien and Bendy played the last instrumental piece. The rocking tune matched the fight between Mitchell and Henry.

Spider was striking his fingers across his guitar, displaying an impressive performance.

Henry managed to get a good distance away from Mitchell. He lifted the staff into the air.

"**YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!**" yelled Mitchell.

"I just did," smirked Henry.

As the song finished, he threw it to the ground, the orb hitting first. The white orb smashed into pieces and glass went flying.

As soon as the orb broke, a white light came out of it.

Everything went white.

* * *

**Elena's POV**

I would like to admit that…I was nervous doing...this.

Singing on stage.

Shaming Mitchell.

I thought that I would be killed, but…Mitchell seemed to listen to me.

He looked…all muddled up.

And yet, I was nervous that I would be bad at singing, but this…this was the first time I sang in years. I never noticed how good my voice was.

When that orb broke, it set off a large explosion of white light. It was so huge that I was thrown back.

My eyes were blinded.

My ears were ringing.

My body felt numb.

I couldn't move.

What happened?

Was this the end?

Did we stopped Mitchell?

Finally, my vision came back.

The first thing I saw was a face.

It was tan and had pink eyes.

"Are you alright?" asked Laura.

"I-I'm fine," I said, my voice slightly cracked due to singing loudly.

She helped me get up. "You did good. You did good."

Bendy came to me. "Yeah! Also, nice voice!"

I chuckled slightly.

"Guys!" said Damien. "Look!"

I didn't need to.

I noticed that the entire room…changed.

Everything wasn't yellow anymore.

No more.

The curtains were rich red.

The stage was brown with black sides.

The walls were brown with black stains.

What was surprising was that the ritual disappeared.

And the ink puddles…they were…

"What's going on?" said Lucy, looking at one of them.

The ink puddles started to evaporate and formed…something.

To my surprise, that ink was forming…people.

Humans…

Real people…

They all looked fine.

The ink dried off them.

They looked queasy.

"Ah," said one of them. "What happened?"

"What's going on?" said another.

"Where am I?"

"Where are my pants?

"T-those people…" said Draco, progressing what was going on. "T-they are alive!"

I spotted Henry. He was looking at Allison. That…strange angel humanoid creature. The ink suddenly melted off her…to reveal a woman.

"Allison…" said Henry slowly.

"A-am I Allison now?" she asked. "Or am I still Alice Angel?"

Henry smiled and gave her a quick hug. "Only in voice."

Allison smiled, small tears of joy forming in her eyes. "Thank you."

"Uh, guys…" said Clyde. "Something's wrong with THAT."

He was looking at Beast Bendy.

It was lying on the ground. In a bad shape. Its bones and muscles were twisting. The ink was melting. It was struggling to get up. It tried to make a sound…but let out weak puppy whimpers.

Almost all the teens backed away. Henry…moved closer to the beast.

"Dad?" said Laura. "What are you doing?"

"This thing…isn't the beast," said Henry slowly.

And he was right.

Beast Bendy finally laid on the floor, defeated.

Not moving.

Suddenly, it melted and the ink washed away to reveal…

…Joey Drew.

"Joey!" said Allison.

Henry and Allison ran up to Joey. The old man struggled to open his eyes and slowly saw Henry.

"Joey…" said Henry softly.

"H-Henry?" said Joey. He was about to say a word when he suddenly groaned in pain.

"There, there," said Allison. "Don't worry. We will take care of you."

"What happened?" said Joey. "D-did you two stopped the Ink Machine? Did you stopped that…man who was behind all of this? What did I miss?"

Henry smiled. "You missed everything. We did it."

Laura, Damien, Bendy and I climbed down the stage. I noticed that more people were reviving after their ink monster forms melted on the floor before. There were more people entering the room. Some of them were wearing…prisoner clothes. Some of them were covered in ink stains.

"D-does this mean that…we…we won?" said a young boy.

Allison turned to the crowd. "Yeah. We did it. We did it. We are finally free."

There was a moment of silence for a while. Nobody moved a muscle.

And then…somebody clapped.

Another person clapped.

And there was a third.

A fourth.

A fifth.

Eventually, everyone started to cheer. Cheers of happiness echoed through the room. Everyone looked…victorious.

We were finally free.

I couldn't help, but cheer. And I helped save the world.

The world could finally breathe.

I just hoped that this would be the end of the ink invasion.

In celebration, Laura and Bendy ran to Henry and hugged him. The father looked at his daughter in relief and wrapped his arms around her.

I spotted Damien heading over to Draco, Alissa, Sven and Pitbull.

"Guys," said Damien exhausted. "I'm…"

At this, he pulled Alissa into a tight but comfortable hug. Alissa chuckled at this.

"It's OK now," said Alissa. "We are fine."

"Yeah," said Damien, shedding tears. "We are now."

"You did a great job out there," said Draco.

"I will admit that…you are cool with that rock 'n' roll playing," smirked Sven, for once impressed.

I saw Jace and Lucy kissing each other as if a war ended. I could say that this looked nice.

Spider was running through the crowd and made his way to that blonde boy with green eyes.

"BARRETT!" yelled Spider.

Barrett turned around to see him. "Damian! I-!"

The two brothers hugged each other. I was surprised that the blonde boy was Barrett; Spider's brother. Even though they didn't look similar, I noticed that they shared the same skin color. The two were crying and smiling in relief and comfort.

"I-I thought you were dead!" said Spider, bawling his eyes out.

"I thought you were too," said Barrett. "Why did you came all this way here?"

"I would never leave you! I would do ANYTHING to find my brother!"

Barrett smiled and ruffled Spider's hair. That was when a blonde girl wearing a black fedora.

"Barrett," she said.

"Tuesday," said Barrett.

"So," said Spider surprised. "Is that the girl you told me about?"

Tuesday nodded. "Among all things."

Spider shook her hand. "I got to say, she IS pretty."

Barrett rubbed his face with left hand.

That was when I noticed that his RIGHT ARM was missing.

Spider also saw it. "Oh my gosh. What happened?"

"I-it's fine," said Barrett, looking at what happened to his right arm. "W…we will find something to help me."

Spider smiled and hugged him again.

I couldn't help, but shed tears seeing this. This time, they were tears of joy. I couldn't believe that I was able to help and save thousands of people. If only my parents would see me now.

"Elena…" said a voice.

I looked over to see Clyde. His hair streak – somehow – was yellow.

And it was glowing.

"T-thank you," he said.

I smiled. "Don't thank me. Just thank everyone. We all did a good job and I wouldn't be here…if it wasn't for you guys."

Clyde smiled in gratitude. "I'll remember that."

This blessed moment was interrupted when I heard something. I looked to the side to see…Mitchell.

He was on the floor…his eyes were back to white and blue. His hair was a mess and there were heavy black bags under his eyes. He slowly looked up…and saw what happened.

There was an expression I saw on his face.

Defeat.

Shame.

Guilt.

"N-no…" he whispered.

My smile turned to a frown. Clyde gasped and hid behind me. Mitchell slowly got up and…saw me. I didn't know what to do. For some reason…I…I felt sorry for him. Even though he hurt a lot of people, it looked like he was…regretting his choice. Besides, he must have worked a lot to be THIS powerful and…I just ruined it.

Compassionate, I slowly walked up to him, holding out my hand as a friendly gesture.

Mitchell backed away…fear…in his eyes.

"No…no…no…" he said trembling. "W-what are you doing?"

"Mitchell…" I said softly.

Suddenly, he slapped my hand away.

"**THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN LIKE THAT!**" he yelled.

This caught everyone's attention. In great humiliation, Mitchell started running for the exit, only for the crowd to stop him.

"GET HIM!" yelled somebody.

At this, two buff men grabbed Mitchell. The blonde teen kicked and screamed, trying to break free, but those men were too strong. They dragged him to the middle of the room, putting him in front of Allison.

"Thank you, guys," said Allison.

Mitchell couldn't do anything, but just sat there and narrowed his eyes. "This is really rich. So you're going to take over me now?"

Allison looked disgusted. "No. I just want everyone to live free."

"But you're the leader of the rebellion, so you have more power than them."

There was a long silence as everyone glared at Mitchell.

"So what do you want us to do with him, boss?" asked a Jewish-accented man.

"Hmm," said Allison, putting her hand onto her chin. "I haven't decided. Any suggestions?"

And then, everyone was throwing deadly torture recommendations.

"Tear the guts out of him!" yelled a little boy.

"Throw him into the ink pond!" shouted elderly woman.

"Let the Ink Demon have him!" exclaimed a teenage girl.

"Let's hang him!" said a Goth man.

"You idiot!" said a woman. "We are in the 21st century!"

"Let's make him die in a fire!" said another.

"WAIT!" yelled a woman's voice.

Coming through the crowd and heading straight to Mitchell was a blonde woman. I recognized her. It was…

"Mrs Von Richmond…" I said.

She was…crying. Her beautiful face was ruined by tears.

"P-please," she said as she stood next to Mitchell.

Allison sighed reluctantly. "Ma'am…"

"Please don't hurt him anymore," said Mrs Von Richmond.

"But he hurt us!" screeched one man.

"He killed my wife!" yelled another man.

"He killed my son!" shrieked a woman.

"He made us work non-stop!" barked a teen.

"He made those sick rituals!" snarled a girl.

Allison raised her finger in the air, shushing the crowd like Jesus. She looked at Mrs Von Richmond.

"We won't hurt him," said Allison. "He's…harmless now."

Mitchell snorted. "Harmless."

The two men let Mitchell go, stepping to the side obediently. Mrs Von Richmond came closer to Mitchell.

"Mitchell…" she said.

Mitchell just remained quiet.

"Please…let's just go home. You're my son."

A rude boy scoffed. "Oh please! He ruined this world! He deserved to die!"

Mrs Von Richmond turned to the crowd. "No! He DOESN'T! He deserves a second chance! He isn't…a real monster. As a young boy, he was…innocent…kind…sweet, just about any word for a normal baby. But…but there had been a LOT of things that happened to him and me. We were struggling with my abusive drunk husband. Mitchell's life was broken. He was hurt…no, not only once, but kicked to the side every time that drove him to the edge of revenge. He…he just wants to be powerful…he wants respect…he wants the pain to go away."

"All he wants is power," sneered Jace. "And look at where this leads us."

"Not really," insisted Mrs Von Richmond firmly. "Sure yes, but when you showed him what he REALLY done, I saw his eyes. The same innocent blue eyes that I saw before when he was bullied by his own father! So please. I know that you can't forgive him…but let's try to give him a chance. Give him a chance to redeem. Give him a chance to learn how to be good. So who's the monster here? Him? Or you? The people who want to kill him?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone thought about it. Nobody said a word.

Mitchell sighed and stepped away from his mother. "You know what? How about we make things easier?"

He took out…this KNIFE…and pointed it at his chest.

Everyone gasped.

"What?" said Mrs Von Richmond shocked. "No!"

"Yes," said Mitchell with burning sad eyes. "And this would be fair for everyone, right?"

"No," I said.

Everyone looked at me. I was under the presence of a million pairs of eyes. Despite my cowardice, I took a deep breath and walked towards Mitchell.

"Mitchell," I said.

Mitchell pointed the knife at me. "Don't you dare pity me."

"Elena," said Henry. "Please stay a-"

"Not now," I said.

I stepped close to Mitchell as close I could. For some reason…I felt brave, despite seeing the knife. My bravery overtook my fear.

"Mitchell…" I said. "I…I know that you have been a lot of pain…so…so do I."

Mitchell narrowed his eyes. "Not the way I'm hurting now."

"But I AM. It breaks my heart to see you deciding to choose this. I am upset of what you did, but this moment now; that's UNACCEPTABLE. Believe me, I saw somebody took their own life. And it wasn't pretty."

"They had gunshots through their chests," said Bendy.

WHAP!

Draco quickly slapped him on the face to shut the demon up.

"So…I don't want anyone to follow the same path as my parents," I continued. "So please…I…I may not trust you…but…let's try to do this again…OK?"

Mitchell was surprised by what I said. He…must have understood my generosity. But the light in his eyes disappeared.

"Why would I live on if nobody loves me now?" Mitchell said bitterly, pointing the knife to his chest.

"That isn't true," said a voice.

I gasped hearing that. So did Mitchell. We both looked at another door to see…a figure. It was in a light blue tint and male. It looked like…

"Liam?" said Draco.

"Liam?" I said.

"Liam?" said Mitchell.

It was. It was Mitchell. And he wasn't happy.

"W-what?" said Mrs Von Richmond, crying again. "I-I thought he…he died."

"We…we saw him die," said a brown-skinned woman who stood beside Henry. "Right Henry?"

"Harley's right," said Henry. "How come?"

Mitchell sighed. "It's because we are twins. Brothers. His DNA is linked to mine, so some of my powers must have moved into his body and transformed his body into something else. He is now…"

"A ghost?" said Lucy.

It was true. And yet, there were no wounds on his chest. Liam started to walk forward, ignoring the horrified stares. All of a sudden, a dark skinned teen stood in front of him.

"Stay out of this, Liam," he said.

"Griffin," said Liam calmly. "Please."

"No way! If it's true that Mitchell KILLED YOU, then you have no reason to-!"

Liam just rolled his eyes and went through Griffin. He took advantage of his ghost form. He walked to Mitchell.

"What do you want?" snarled Mitchell.

"Just a brother," said Liam. "To be with."

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "By joining you to the afterlife."

"No…I can't go to heaven. I…I have to stay here. Even if I find my peace."

Mitchell was quiet.

"Listen. I know that you feel guilty about this. You don't need to act so stoic."

Mitchell shook his head. "It makes me look weak."

"It doesn't. It shows that…you need me."

"I…I don't need you. I…I didn't need you before. You locked yourself away and I was all by myself."

Liam stuttered and groaned in frustration. "I-I know…I…I was just mad at you your actions. Your lies. Your crimes. Everything. And what you did led me to become THIS! Do I have to repeat myself again? Like me…and everyone else…even the ones you see as 'powerful'…they are just human…they are just normal people…you are still a boy. I know that you are in there somewhere. Please. I want to be with you again. I want to do the same damn things we used to do. Being happy together. Playing together. Never fall apart. I was so happy to be with you. We were so close together. Now, it's your choice. Please. Come home. We miss you. Do you TRUST me now? And the rest of our friends?"

I saw a look on Mitchell's face. It was the face of defeat.

Sadness.

Shame

Guilt.

Confusion.

I didn't know what to say or do. At that moment, I wasn't sure whether to show compassion or hatred. Liam had a point.

It was Mitchell who did all of this.

His attempted sexual abuse.

His selfish rap career.

His manipulative work.

His power to draw attention.

His scheming plans.

His huge lies.

But still, he was just ONE PERSON. And he wasn't a monster…or a god…or a demon. He was just a young boy. I knew it. I still remembered Mitchell before he became bad. He was sweet…kind…and innocent.

There was a light shining in his eyes. A smile crept on my face. At that moment, there was hope.

Mitchell made a small smile.

"Thank you…for everything," he said.

His knife was at point.

Oh no…

"WAIT!" I screamed.

It was too late.

It was the same speed as an ax crunching through wood. And it wasn't pretty.

Almost all the people gasped at the sight of this. It was so unexpected and so quick that everyone was caught off guard by this.

"What's going on?!" said one boy as a woman covered his eyes, a little bit belated as Mitchell dropped to the floor.

My mouth trembled as in the middle of the room laid Mitchell…with three deep stab wounds all over his chest…one wound damaged his heart…and the light in his eyes faded away.

**This was like how my parents died.**

Spider had his mouth wide opened.

Henry was staggered.

Spider let out a short sob.

Laura couldn't speak.

Harley had her hands over her mouth.

"MITHCEEEEELLLL!" screamed Mrs Von Richmond.

I watched in despair as she collapsed onto her knees and let out huge streams of tears – the size of a waterfall. She slowly crawled towards the lifeless body and shook it.

But Mitchell wasn't immortal.

A dark look appeared on Liam's face. He looked…troubled. That…that was the same face I saw when I told him to stay away from me years ago. He looked…petrified…bewildered…grief-stricken…dismayed.

He slowly bent down and placed a hand on Mitchell's bloody chest.

NO HEARTBEAT.

Tears filled in Liam's eyes. He slowly stroked his twin brother's messy hair as if running his fingers through white silk. I saw the ghost forming these simple words;

"Please don't leave me…"

Liam just sat there, looking at Mitchell in despair. Mrs Von Richmond continued to cry. Harley slowly walked towards her.

"M-miss," said Harley. "I'm…I'm so sorry."

Mrs Von Richmond didn't turn around, but she let out a small whimper. I watched as tear droplets dripped to the floor, staining the floor with – not blood – but the emotions that were kept in her mind. In fact, her voice rose against the silence of the room.

Everyone seemed to be infected by that emotion as well. I knew for a fact that all of them once hated Mitchell, but seeing the sight of him taking his own life…they weren't so sure anymore.

Bendy stepped to my side.

"Was…was he bad to you before?" he asked.

I couldn't speak. Seeing the action of somebody taking suicide…AGAIN left me shaken. However, I could only say a few words.

"Just only once," I whispered.

I looked around with watery eyes. It seemed that the entire room was swayed.

Spider was trying his best to look away.

Barrett's mouth was shaking.

Laura looked down in grief.

Jace still held onto his hostile expression.

Lucy mourned as well.

Tuesday took off her hat in respect.

Draco was shaking her head in disappointment, capitulated.

Clyde held his hand close to his heart.

Alissa just stood there, unable to breath.

Damien was beginning to shake and shed tears.

Sven was looking around before looking at Pitbull, wanting to see how others felt.

Before I knew, I found myself walking towards the distressing scene. As if on cue, so did others. We all surrounded Liam and Mrs Von Richmond as they looked at the lifeless body of Mitchell.

And at the same time, I felt all the lights turned off in this room.

* * *

**AN: Oh my goodness. This is not a good ending. Sure Mitchell did a lot of bad things, but he still has friends who are reluctant to let him pay for his crimes. **

**Mitchell taking suicide is probably the saddest thing in this story. This is not played for laughs. This is serious. I warned you that it will be disturbing. For those who are reading this or even have suicidal thoughts, please DO NOT follow what Mitchell did. I mean in any way. Life is precious and it is important to know that there are still people around you. **

**Liam didn't really 'die'. Because he is an important character, I want him to still be around, so I decided to make him into a ghost. It was hard for me to decided if he gets to live or die, so I decided to turn him into a spirit.**

**[1] To those wondering, Liam hates TV because it reminds him of Mitchell seeing inappropriate content on TV when they were 12 years old.**

**[2] This scene is based on the final episode of 'Meta Runner: Season 1' (spoilers!). **

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you enjoy this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**If you want me to put in YOUR OC for any future stories like this one, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**The epilogue (the actual REAL final chapter of the story) will be uploaded tomorrow. If you have any concerns about this chapter you want to tell me, let me know and we can discuss about it.**

**I'll see you all tomorrow.**


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**Third Person's POV**

It was a month after things settled down.

Elena, Bendy, Henry and the rest of their group made it back to Brooklyn. Mrs Von Richmond and Liam came along, the latter's dead body becoming a visible soul for all to see. They even took Mitchell's body.

The Ink Machine was finally shut down. Again, Bendy wanted to destroy the machine once and for all, but after Joey Drew convinced him to just let it be, they turned off the machine. They removed certain parts of the machine, so that no one would turn it back on before placing it back in the gallery. Only time would tell if it would be used again.

Everyone was tired from the ink invasion. Almost everything looked gloomy and depressing; especially after witnessing Mitchell's suicide.

Instead of celebrating his death, Miss Von Richmond held a funeral for Mitchell.

* * *

**Elena's POV**

We were all gathered at the Holy Cross for the funeral of Mitchell.

I was there.

So was Bendy.

So was Henry.

So was Laura.

Eventually, I was with the rest of the family; including Linda and Grace who turned back to normal.

Spider, Lucy, Draco, Damien and Sven came along to see their deceased friend last time.

Jace and Alissa refused to come along. They still held a grudge against Mitchell and his death made them hazy, so they decided to stay at home. They did took Spider's word that Mitchell was still a good friend to them in the first place.

Clyde couldn't come as he was still trying to process the whole thing. He was back home with his family, but respected that Mitchell's funeral.

Barrett couldn't come, needing to stay in San Francisco. He had to go to the hospital for check-ups. Tuesday stuck around with him for support. The two would come to Brooklyn in a few days time.

A lot of people were against having a funeral for Mitchell as he was the one who started the ink invasion. Even the students from the school were hesitant. Eventually, some of them decided to come over to respect Mrs Von Richmond.

No sound was made as the bells rang for the fallen blonde teen. I watched from the sidelines as Mrs Von Richmond and three other women carried the casket towards an empty grave. Everyone watched in sorrow, not making a single word. Spider looked at me in worry.

"I know that Mitchell wasn't one of the best people in the world," he whispered. "But…we wouldn't be altogether if it wasn't for him."

I shrugged. "Maybe so. If…if only we helped and find a solution to our problems…then none of this would happen. He...he wouldn't have to pay the price and many people wouldn't die."

As the casket was lowered into the grave, Mrs Von Richmond picked up a shovel and was about to cover the grave…only to stop. She just stared at the casket; the white shining walls reflecting in her eyes.

That was when Harley gave her condolence.

"Miss," she said. "What's wrong now?"

Mrs Von Richmond was silent for a while. "I…I don't know what to do."

"I think you're meant to fill in the hole," said Sven.

SLAP!

Draco quickly slapped Sven on the face to shut him up.

Mrs Von Richmond continued. "I…I don't know what to do now. If…if I know that my husband wasn't well…if I just take my sons away from him…if I just worked hard enough…we could have earned a better life…we could have been happier…but…they…they died because of me."

I bit my lip. At that moment, I felt that she was going to cry…but then, she just lowered her head in dismay.

"Maybe…maybe this is what I deserved," she finally said.

Harley was shocked. "What?!"

"Maybe that's how the world works. I should have known that a long time ago!"

She dropped the shovel, standing up. "Ever since I was a kid, I tried to blend into the crowd. But that failed and I remained friendless. It was when I met my husband. I trusted him and he…he…this is stupid!"

Harley trembled.

"Nothing always seem to go my way. I was the butt monkey of the world. For some reason, I was made to have bad things in my life. My entire family destroyed everything I hoped for and I wasn't there to stop these problems. My life, my career, my job, my love…all gone."

She was quiet for a while. "There is nothing left. I can't go back to this world. Not anymore. Everything I owned is gone. Nothing. I have nothing now. All because…of me."

Everyone was silent and we all looked at Mrs Von Richmond in pity. Some people held a grudge since she wasn't able to stop Mitchell from doing the mess he made, but it was hard not to feel sorry for her.

The blonde woman looked like she was going to cry.

Laura sighed and walked towards Mrs Von Richmond.

"What are you doing?" said Henry firmly.

"I got to give something," said Laura calmly.

"Laura. It's not the time. Please just-"

"NO. She deserves to know."

Despite Henry's protests, Laura walked through the sidelines and headed straight towards Mrs Von Richmond.

"Ma'am," Laura said.

Mrs Von Richmond turned around. That was when Laura took out this;

A golden necklace. It was a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pink jewel hanging at the end.

And since Liam gave it to Laura, this meant…

"Here," said Laura, giving the necklace to Mrs Von Richmond. "Liam held onto this for a long time and…there are good things worth keeping."

Mrs Von Richmond was surprised as she stared at her lost-long necklace. It looked so foreign for her. She observed it before wearing it around her neck.

"I…" stuttered Mrs Von Richmond. "This…this used to belong to my grandmother. She said…it brings good luck. Thank you."

Laura smiled and nodded.

"I don't think…even with this," said Mrs Von Richmond in self-doubt. "I…I don't think I can move forwards."

"Then let's try to help you," said Harley. "You know, if you trust others, then you can find your life again. Your good life."

I saw a glimmer of light shining on Mrs Von Richmond's face. She made a small smile.

"Thank you," said Mrs Von Richmond.

She turned back to the grave, picked up the shovel…and slowly buried it with dirt. Once the grave was filled, the tombstone could be seen. I read it.

_Once a young boy_

_Who then mistreated people like toys_

_But never forget his innocent blue eyes_

_And let him go off in peace and fly._

A lump formed in my throat as I nearly felt the urge to cry. I looked down as if saying goodbye to Mitchell.

Finally, everyone walked up to Mrs Von Richmond and gave their condolences. I felt heavy as I said mine. I was about to chat with my friends when I spotted Bendy walking to someone.

It was the ghost of Liam.

Laura stood by my side. We looked at each other before exchanging small nods. We followed Bendy.

Liam was sitting alone on a lonely bench. Bendy leaped and stood next to him.

"What do you want?" grumbled Liam.

"I just came to see how you are doing," said Bendy. "You didn't come over to see your brother getting buried."

I gingerly sat next to Liam on the left while Laura sat on the right.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

Liam shook his head. "I…I don't know. Mitchell…he…he was a good brother to me. We were best friends until he...killed my father and ME. He…turned me into this."

He looked at his hands.

"I just wish I could see him now," he said sadly.

"Maybe you can when you go to the afterlife," said Bendy helpfully.

Liam shook his head again. "I can't."

Laura looked concerned. "What do you mean?"

"I can't. Because of my brother's powers, I am forced to be some kind of immortal ghost living on Earth. I tried many times to finally die; drinking poison, stabbing myself or making peace…but none of them worked. I can't feel anything and I guess I have to live with it."

He stared off, looking at the sunset. The sun was about to disappear from the horizon, signalling that tomorrow was on its way.

"I feel like giving up," said Liam.

"What?" said Bendy.

"I…I…I really want to give up. I…I lost everything. My brother, my home, my purpose and my body! Nearly everything that belongs to me is gone. And no matter how I tried…I should have known that Mitchell would die. As a young boy. And look at me now. I'm stuck here while Mitchell would be with Dad. I'm all alone."

Laura placed a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to do this all alone."

Liam's eyes started to water. "I don't know. I just feel like giving up for once."

I couldn't stand seeing Liam acting so negative again, so I did this; I wrapped my arms around his nearly transparent body.

"We can feel like giving up together," I said softly. "Trust me. I know that feeling."

An understandable look appeared on Liam's face. "You…you guys…what do you want though?"

Laura smiled. "This time, let's try to be together."

Liam looked down. "I'm not sure. I'm not human anymore."

"But that doesn't mean we can ignore the fact that you're human inside. I still want to be with you and even though we can't have a future together, I would rather spend my life by being around the people I care about, not throw them away!"

A light blue hand went through his white hair. Liam slightly smiled. "Thank you. This…this means the world to me."

Laura smiled. "You still think that the world is against you."

"I…I had been down for the past month, so I lost the motivation to think about anything positive. It's nice to know that you're here for me."

Bendy patted Liam on the head. "You're welcome, buddy!"

Laura chuckled happily, before kissing Liam on the lips. The latter looked dazed for a while before returning the favor. Deciding to give them a moment for themselves, I stood up and walked off. Bendy followed me like a duckling.

"So…" said Bendy. "You're satisfied?"

"I…" I said. "I'm still not sure what is next…but I'm happy to be with you and my new friends."

"So do you TRUST me now?"

I bent down and shook his hand. "I'll try to."

Bendy hopped onto my shoulders. I smiled and walked through the cemetery. As I got closer to Mitchell's tomb, I saw Henry talking with Harley.

"What?" said Henry. "You're…you're leaving."

Harley nodded. "Yeah. I know. It's been nice to see you again and with all of this…adventure. But I need to process it. I still have a home and need to help the people back at San Francisco. I'm even making a memorial for Hawk, so I won't be around to see you."

"What about Liam?"

"We already chat. Liam and Mrs Von Richmond made the decision to live here. I have Liam's phone number, so we can still contact each other."

Henry nodded. "Yeah…just before you go, I want to say that you are one of the best people in the world. Before, I saw you as a little girl, but now, you have grown up. Despite all the fear, you have been a lot of help for us…including me."

A faint blush could be seen on Harley's cheeks as she absorbed the compliment. "Thank you."

I smiled. Even though I didn't know much about Harley, I was happy that she stood for Henry. I turned to Mitchell's grave and stared at the tombstone. I read the poem on it before hearing someone coming from behind.

It was Jace.

And there was a golden necklace around his neck, decorated in beautiful rubies, diamonds and emeralds.

"Jace?" I said. "W…what are you doing here?"

Jace looked down. "I just came here to see…this."

"I thought you didn't want to go."

"Eh…I thought about it and I made my decision to come over." **[1]**

I noticed the gloomy look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

I nodded at Jace and turned back to Mitchell's tombstone. I just hoped that Mitchell would be happily reunited with his reformed dad in the afterlife. He would be happy that he got a meaningful funeral for him and finally free from all the trauma.

Goodbye.

* * *

**A few days later…**

To celebrate the freedom of the ink invasion, there was a large party held out at school. They managed to set out a carnival-like festival at the front court; mini tents, tables of foods, LED lights and a stage. The stage was a small circular platform with beat-boxes and spotlights. It didn't look too fancy, but it looked fine.

Everyone was there. All my friends, my family and the other students. Even the workers of Joey Drew Studio. Boris and Alive – who they reunited with Bendy – joined along.

When I arrived, everything looked so bright and vibrant. I never seen that many colors before. As I made my way through the crowd, I spotted Spider talking with Barrett and Tuesday. And oh, Tuesday was carrying a baby.

Apparently, those two managed to travel to Brooklyn as soon as possible. Barrett earned a new robotic right arm since his original limb was cut off. I got to say; that new arm looked so impressive and interesting. It was silver and had code details on it.

"Hey there," I said.

"Hi, Elena!" said Spider. "I'm so happy to see you."

I chuckled. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Brother now has a mechanical arm and a girlfriend."

Barrett's face went red. "HEY! I NEVER explicitly said that I have a girlfriend."

"Well there's one next to you!"

Barrett rolled his eyes. Tuesday grinned sheepishly.

The blonde green-eyed boy sighed. "Besides, I'm still trying to get used to my new arm. It feels a bit heavy wearing this thing, but I'm progressing it."

He flexed his robotic arm around. I looked at Tuesday.

"So you're planning to stay here, huh?" I said.

"It took me a while to convince my parents to come over to this town," she said. "But I was successful. I will be here once Barrett gets his degree back in San Francisco."

The baby babbled.

"Oh," said Tuesday. "This is my baby brother Quill."

"He looks SO adorable," said Spider, wiggling his finger onto the baby's nose.

"And by the way," said Barrett, looking at me. "And I see that…you have feelings for him!"

I blushed. "W-what? No way…"

Spider grinned. "Well, am I a better person than Mitchell?"

Crickets.

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to have a boyfriend," I said, rubbing the back of my head.

"Well," said Spider shrugging. "I'll let you go off, but just recommending. I'm always free."

He was about to walk off when I had something stupid popped up in my mind.

"Wait!" I said. "A…actually…there…there is…something I like to tell you…"

Spider turned around. "OK. What is it?"

I gave Barrett and Tuesday a look, waving my hand as a gesture to go away for a while. They backed away obediently.

"So…" I said, my cheeks turning red. "Are…are you going to do anything after this?"

Spider shrugged. "I was thinking of playing Fortnite, but other than that, I have nothing to do."

"Well…I…I…I…"

I felt my face turning hotter than before. Oh dear lord, why was it SO hard to speak?

"It's just that…" I said, feeling lightheaded. "I…I saw this new coffee place…maybe…we…we…we can hang around there?"

Spider looked surprised. "What?"

"Yeah…" I said.

"Wait. Are you being serious?"

I rolled my eyes. "Um…yeah."

I swore I saw Spider's cheeks turning red. He looked flattered before smiling.

"Well…you are pretty good at opening things up," he said. "I see you don't need shades anymore."

I was confused. "What do you mean-?"

"I'll say yes."

At this, Spider leaned forward and gave me a KISS ON THE CHEEK.

OK. I would be PETRIFIED by this, but…I had this…feeling…that…I…never felt before in years. It felt…felt…felt…

…so awe.

My eyes widened up and my cheeks were burning. My face was turning red-pink. I felt light-headed and was about to drop to the floor, but Spider quickly grabbed me.

"I…" I said embarrassed. "Sorry…it's…"

Spider chuckled sheepishly. "It's fine…I'm…I'm pretty nervous about this…yeah…"

I finally relaxed. I managed to smile. I couldn't believe that I was…falling in love again. Yes, I was uncomfortable around boys after Mitchell molested me, but after the whole adventure, I felt as if a heavy weight got off my shoulders. I felt like I had a chance to find someone again.

Here I was able to find a second chance. This time, I think I found the right boy.

"So…we do this after this party?"

"Sure."

Spider put his hand in his jacket pocket. "That reminds me of this."

He took something out.

I gasped.

It was a pair of sunglasses.

The glass was black and the lens were red.

"W…what?" I said.

"I told you before that I can fix things," said Spider, giving the glasses to me. "Well…your old glasses were broken, so I used the remains to make this."

I put the sunglasses over my eyes. For some reason, everything looked a bit…clearer.

"Yeah," said Spider. "The lens make your eyes more visible to see. That way, I can see your beautiful eyes."

I blushed. "You…you made this for me?"

"Of course."

I was lost in thought. To think that I lost my mother's sunglasses when Spider fixed them and turned them into something new.

I loved it.

I couldn't be happier than ever before.

I slightly hugged Spider.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Spider smiled as I let go.

He leaned forward again. "Can I tell that to everyone?"

I was flabbergasted. "W-what? N-no! Don't make this public!"

"Easy there! Everyone will know that we will become a couple."

"I didn't explicitly say that."

"Maybe we can do that now?"

I was silent for a while. "I'm…I'm not so sure. I don't want a…ahem…'romantic incident' going around here."

"Good," said Spider smiling. "So do I."

And at this, he pulled out a FOGHORN and pressed the button.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNKKKK!

Everyone froze upon hearing this. Even the music stopped. All eyes peered at Spider and me.

I felt ashamed.

"W-what are you doing?" I hissed.

"I like to make a toast for tonight," called Spider. He then walked onto the stage. "We are all here tonight because we are finally free from the ink invasion!"

A few people cheered in agreement.

"And we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all of these amazing people."

He pulled Henry onto the stage.

"Wait, what's going on?" said Henry confused.

"This old man was near the Ink Machine when the invasion happened," explained Spider. "And he was trapped in that warehouse for days!"

"Hey," said Henry annoyed. "I'm not THAT old."

"Despite all the struggles, he managed to fight through all of this and helped save the world…again. Just like how he saved the Joey Drew Studio."

At this, there was a round of applause. I saw the look on Henry's face. He looked pretty surprised to be praised for helping, but he finally accepted it. I could hear the cheers from some of his co-workers and family.

"Good job, Henry!" called Linda.

"You saved all of them again!" said Joey.

"Proud of you, Henry!" said Allison.

"Go Dad!" exclaimed Laura.

Henry nodded. "Why thank you."

Before Spider go any further, Henry walked off the stage.

"It's OK," said Henry. "I'm happy that everyone is alright and safe. It means a lot to me."

Spider nodded. He then hopped down and DRAGGED ME ONTO STAGE.

"What?!" I said. "Why are you-?"

"I also like to thank Elena Rubystone for all of this," said Spider.

I was shocked. "M-me?"

I didn't need to know. To my surprise, I heard people starting to cheer at me. Applauding. Praising. I couldn't speak.

ALL OF THE STUDENTS WERE CHEERING FOR ME.

Like a hero.

"We have a new hero in town," said Spider, lifting my hand up. "This here was once an ordinary school girl. One of the new students. At first, she wasn't one of the nicest people out there, but she changed. She became friends with me. And you should have seen how she grew, people! You don't need models, celebrities or pretty women to look to. Look to Elena! Now a great superwoman. The world wouldn't be saved without her."

I gazed at Spider, my jaw hanging open. I remembered how I struggled through my traumatic life before being brought up by so many people. I never knew that I saved thousands of lives because of me. I was still a young girl who was trying to find a home, but at that moment…I felt that I was no longer alone.

There was still one correction though.

"Damian," I said smiling, for once calling Spider by his REAL name. "I didn't do this all by myself. I don't deserve ALL the credit."

"Right," said Spider, smiling proudly. "Because we're a team. I helped out and look how far we have come. Big thanks to…Lucy Bluebell and Jace Octoson!"

The crowd cheered.

Lucy hugged Jace.

"Yeah!" said Jace smirking. "That's right!"

"…to Laura Stein and Draco Midcycle!"

"Thank you, everyone!" called Laura as she got rounds of applause.

"I think we finally made the world a better place," said Draco, his voice wavering.

"…to Damien Wolfbane, Alissa Belladonna and Sven Johansson!"

"Whoo!" whooped Sven. "Yeah! I'm so awesome!"

Damien and Alissa gave him a look.

"…to Bendy, well let's get real. We probably could have done it without Bendy. He was nearly out of focus for the WHOLE STORY."

"Oh c'mon!" said Bendy, standing on a table for people to see him. "I helped out and I know everything about the ink monsters!"

Spider chuckled. "Sorry. Also, let's not forget Barrett and Tuesday!"

"Thank you, brother," said Barrett.

At this, Tuesday gave him a kiss on the cheek, much to Barrett's astonishment.

"Even special thanks to Liam Von Richmond!"

Liam scratched the back of his head as many people cheered for him. "That's not set in stone."

Mrs Von Richmond placed a hand on her ghost son. "This time, I think it is. You did a good job, Liam."

"And last but not least, Clyde Chaos!"

Clyde shyly covered part of his face, the streak on his hair was now lavender.

"You did good, Clyde!" said Fritz. "Don't have to hide yourself."

"Y-yeah," said Clyde. "I don't care. W-whatever."

"Do you know what is really important?" continued Spider as we held hands together in victory. "Us. Everyone. We are strongest when we stick together as a team; we can do the impossible. We may be just young kids, but anyone can save the day. You can save the day as well. One with the mask can do everything. It only counts if you can learn to trust others, regardless of the differences you may have with each other."

He then turned to me. "So…do you trust me now?"

I nodded. "I'll try to…I mean, yeah."

Everyone cheered at this. Bendy popped open a bottle of champagne.

"ALRIGHT!" he yelled. "Who's ready to party?"

The crowd roared louder. At this, the fireworks went off.

It was a spectacular night.

You guys, I can't really explain how frightening – honest to God – parties can be for me. I don't really like to be in parties that much…but this one…was a good one. It was a time that we celebrate the victory. The time when everyone was safe. The time when everyone can be together.

The sky was filled with an awesome display of neon colors as they exploded into the clouds. Activities and music were set out for everyone to enjoy. First, I decided to take some food to eat. I gotta admit that I took a large slice of cake and a cup of punch. I felt pretty queasy after eating them, but I still had the energy to stand.

I found myself dancing along with the crowd. Some of the students were cheering at me, trying to reach for me. I was humble, so I just accepted their compliments. I guessed that you didn't need make-up to be 'famous'.

Eventually, I was able to join my new group of friends. I felt so…happy. Again, I never had friends before, but I finally found people to look up to. They weren't as bad as the past few bullies had to face. They didn't care about my looks, my character and my skills. They just like me as a person and that was all that mattered to me. I just hoped that it could last forever.

Later, after a song finished, I spotted Laura walking towards the main entrance of the school. She was guiding Liam. I wondered what they were doing.

Before I could take a step, I heard someone call my name.

It was Ariel, Yvonne and Thea.

"Oh," I said. "You three again."

"I got to say," said Ariel. "I thought that you were going to die out there at first. I nearly called the army to search for you. But now…look at how brave you are now. You are one of us now. One of the best students out there."

I smiled. "Thanks…but I'm just a normal girl like you. I am different and not that strong or brave."

"Don't be like that," said Yvonne. "You saved our lives, so you deserved it. You did it fair and square."

"Yeah," said Thea. "We doubted you at first, but you did the impossible."

I nodded. "Well…the only thing that was impossible was saying goodbye to Mitchell."

The three girls nodded.

"We see," said Ariel. "Anyway, we are about to try some new make-up. Want to join us?"

I looked at them…before looking back at the school. "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up with you some other time."

"Where do you need to go?"

"To see my cousin."

I walked off and entered the school. The school hallways were empty. I wondered why at this time Laura would want Liam to come in. As I walked by, I noticed a few people in a classroom together.

Laura was with a few other kids playing several board games. I guessed that was the Social Games Club. When Laura saw me, she waved at me, gesturing me to come over.

I was about to…but I just stood there.

I couldn't bring myself to play with them.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

I was…nervous.

Despite how I changed so far, I was still scared that…what if the club didn't accept me. Would they trust me? Would they see me as a person?

I took a deep breath.

I took off my sunglasses.

And for the first time, I entered the room.

Laura looked surprised that I entered. Liam raised an eyebrow at me. The other members looked at me.

I froze.

I wanted to say something, but nothing came out from my mouth.

I looked like a fool.

However, Laura smiled and pulled me over. She wanted to let me join a board game they were playing.

As I sat down, I felt very uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how this was going to act out. I snapped out of my thoughts when Laura tapped on my shoulder.

She was pointing to a little girl who just arrived at the door.

I looked up and saw that this girl seemed to be around 11 years old. Most of her clothing were dark, had a few stitches on her face and her eyes were hidden by sunglasses.

This surprised me.

Laura grabbed the little girl's hand and gestured her to meet me. The girl shyly waved at me…before frowning.

She sat down and looked at me as if observing me. I felt pretty nervous.

What was she doing?

And then, she was still as a statue.

A smile formed on her face and she took off her sunglasses…

…to reveal that she had silver eyes…

…just like mine.

I couldn't speak.

The little girl pulled me in a hug.

At this, I…I was completely speechless.

So…was this why Laura wanted me to join the Social Games Club? To let me socialize with people who were like me? To see people who were just like me?

I looked over at the other members who were smiling brightly.

Laura gave me the thumbs up.

Liam grinned.

I couldn't help, but smile as well.

I saw where this was going. Maybe being in the Social Games Club wasn't bad anymore.

I realized that I didn't need to worry about the demons in my past anymore. There was no worry of what was going to happen in the future as I was in a much safer school. I finally made true friends, true love…and a family.

I realized that I finally found a home.

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**Third Person's POV, After Chapter 10**

Harley looked through Mitchell's office out of curiosity. It was an hour since everyone experienced his death and they all got out from the warehouse. Harley was one of the few who stayed behind to see if there were any more survivors.

"Hmm…" she said. "I don't see anything here. This is wasteful. Maybe I should just…"

She trailed off upon finding something glowing…on the top of a shelf.

Wondering what that was, Harley went towards the shelf and grabbed it. She was tall enough to reach the top of the shelf.

She looked at the object she found…and froze.

It was a glowing white ball.

A similar orb from Mitchell's staff.

"W-what?" she thought to herself. "He…he have an extra one?"

Thoughts raced her mind. Mitchell was gone and the world was restored. It couldn't be possible that he had a back-up power. So it wasn't over? The ink invasion was still going on?

Unless…

Unless Mitchell FORGOT about it. He felt so distressed by his defeat that he must have forgotten about his second orb. And that orb didn't affect anything…yet. It was the orb on the staff that caused all of this, but the substitute orb wasn't used the whole time.

"What should I do with this?" she thought. "Wait, hold on."

She saw that inside the orb, something was staring back at her. It had sad glowing orange eyes looking at Harley.

Confused, Harley closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened her eyes, the figure from the orb was gone.

"What was that about?" she thought. "Is that…?"

"Harley?" said a voice.

It was Henry.

"We got to go now," he said. "The military will be here soon. You're done?"

Since Harley was facing her back, Henry didn't see the orb. Harley sighed and kept the glowing orb in her blazer pocket.

"Yeah," she said. "I am. I'm done here for tonight."

She was about to leave the room…until she spotted the cassette tape.

"But first," she said. "I like to see something."

"What is it?" asked Henry.

She went towards the tape.

Harley raised an eyebrow and placed 'play'.

"_Uh…is this thing on?_" said Mitchell's voice from the tape. "_Alright yes! We are now on the 3rd of September! I got to say, this is really good! I managed to build an ENTIRE ARMY OF INK MONSTERS and apparently, they are conquering the MAJORITY OF AMERICA! This is getting so well! Ahem…actually, the reason why I decided to make this log is because…something happened._"

Henry swallowed hard, but his throat was dry.

"_You see, I…eh…ever since the success of reviving Sammy Lawrence…I…I decided to try to bring the dead workers of Joey Drew Studio back to life. This…eh…failed…sadly._"

"Wait," said Harley. "What?"

"The dead workers?" said Henry, his face turning pale.

"_Heh, heh. It seems that…they are pretty more…eh…what is the phrase again? Oh, yes. They are not the full shilling as Sammy. They are pretty much more deranged. So far, I brought the Projectionist back to life. Sadly, this fails. His whole body was falling apart that his camera head…thingy broke. I had to throw that one out into the garbage._"

Henry shivered.

"_The next creature I brought back to life was…someone I nicknamed 'Swollen Jack'. Eventually, he lost control of himself that I had to place him in one of my containers. I think they are throwing him into the incinerator by now._"

Harley noticed the frightened look on Henry's face. "Henry? Do you…know those people?"

Henry nodded. "Even in their monster forms."

"_The third AND last one…well…she isn't the prettiest…but...she is an angel. And she was beautiful. And loved by all. She was perfect. OK. I really sound creepy there. Anyway, she was obsessed with perfection that she tried to change her deformed face. She was killing my ink monsters and even tried to kill me. She needed these 'hearts and guts' to make her look 'beautiful'. That's a bit…odd to say. I don't know what she did to them._"

Henry's breath was caught in his throat. "Alice…"

"_You guys, even as a mighty god, I can't really describe – honest to God – how frightening that b**ch was. Because she was very unstable, I put her in a coma and buried her in a nice, little room. That would be what she wanted. A HEAVEN GARDEN to rest in. I am planning to…change her mind, but with all of this happening, I think I will let her sleep there. As long as she doesn't wake up. Anyway, that's all for today._"

The tape ended. Harley and Henry looked at each other.

"H-he had been trying to revive the workers of Joey Drew Studio?" asked Harley.

Henry nodded grimly. "And he must have let them die."

"But…he buried this…eh…female person in a room."

"Where can that be?"

The two never knew. Before they knew it, they were sent out as the military checked the place. To this day, the warehouse was once again abandoned. The investigators checked through the warehouse and found no single life. Everything Liam created was gone. Even the ink oceans and pools.

However, little did anyone knew, the garden room Mitchell made for Liam was still in the warehouse. Nobody knew where it was or what happened to it. They all thought that it disappeared, but in actual fact, it…it was still there for some reason. If only they looked much closer, they would find it.

The flowers still swayed through the breeze calmly. It was as if it was the last piece of utopia.

However, the dirt beneath the flowers shook the ground.

The peace didn't last long.

An inky hand broke through the garden.

If you were outside the warehouse, you would be able to hear this faintly.

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**I̶̡̪̬̦̲̠͎̿̄ ̸̻̭̙̦̪͎̪̯̭͍̩̤͛̄̓̓͜͝ͅͅA̴̡̡̝͖̳͙̜̲̣̜͔͆̉͠M̵̨̛̝̬̬̳͉̜̻̘̪̝͇̤̰̒̅̿̈̌̀͋̈́͝ ̴̮̈́̓͐̈́͜A̴̧͎͙̗͙̮̣̦̼̫̭͙̝͔̅́͛͌̉͆̽̀̌̔̀̈́͘L̴̨͈̖̀͒̍́̐̋̐͑̅̎͛I̵̡̢̮͕̯͓̰̭̽C̵̛̼̯̱̞̹̅̄́̈̇̔͂̚͠Ę̷͍̩͙̣͓̤̒̐̇̐̐͑͊̈́̉̇͐̚͠͝ ̵̡̖͍̪͂͑̋͑̑̋̈Ä̴̢̰̣̝͔́̌̈́N̶̮̥̔̒̋̿̾̐͛̈́̂̇̚͝Ǵ̶̳̬͍̬̣͔͎͉̄̐̂͑̀̌͗͑̑̏̓͐̿͘E̵̯͎̎̅͆͑̇͛Ļ̷̼̱̒̿͌͒̄̽͝͝!̴̩͓̤̠̩̲̩̼͙̿͌͋̅̊͗̚͝"̷̡̠͕̹̟̼̼͔̦̟̀͂̆̐̂̈̋͋̇̈̊͌͝**

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**The End**

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**AN: The End? More like 'To Be Continued'. OK. For this story, I planned that the Twisted Alice would appear, but that was scrapped out. Ha, ha, ha...it looks like there will be a sequel! But...Twisted Alice won't be the main antagonist. **

**This story must be the darkest of all I ever written so far and isn't suitable for young children. This is because in this story, I've focused on many themes including racism, abuse, mental health, terrorism, religions, suicide and rights. OK, maybe abuse, suicide and rights are the most important themes of this story. **

**In my country, I heard that abuse towards women is strong and this has been a problem. Even though I _NEVER SEEN WOMEN TREATED WRONGLY BEFORE_****, i couldn't help, but start to think if women today are mistreated. Worse, recently I've been seeing ads of how young girls 'accept' the fact that they will be abused and men are alright to be violent to women. This is NOT OK. ****Even though abuse towards women isn't major in this chapter, the effects of how Elena dealt with it is a huge concern. Because she has been sexually abused (only once and never got to the point of stripping of clothes), this scars her for life including after being bullied and watching her parents die. This also overlaps with mental health. She finds it hard, but when she meets Laura, Spider and Bendy, she starts to learn how to trust others. I like to point out the fact that it is important to treat and accept others in the same way. We are NO LONGER in the stupid dark ages anymore, so abusing someone because of what gender they are isn't OK. If no one agrees with me, then imagine how it feels like to be treated like dirt. Abuse can impact on not only your health, but your life.**

**Suicide also plays a small but strong part of the story. Not going to lie, the fact that Damien is struggling, Liam thinking suicide thoughts and Mitchell taking his own life is disturbing. This reflects on my own experience; even though I don't choose to take my own life, I sometimes feel like giving up when things don't always go your way. I mean, giving up on EVERYTHING. This happens when I get things wrong or if I forget important things; even though they are just small, I feel like everything matters to me. However, I was reminded that if I choose to give up, I can lose people I love in my life.**

**To those who are suffering from depression, PTSD or suicidal thoughts, remember that there will always be a hand that will reach out for you. Don't expect everyone to hate you as there may be someone who still loves you. Accept love, accept care and more importantly...accept trust for others and YOURSELF. You do MATTER.**

**This story even reflects on me. I sometimes have problems with trusting others. You see, there are a few boys who I don't like and I tried to run away. There is this one person who I think likes to bully me, so I hide from him. Eventually, he didn't seem to have any problem when I go to a school club with him weekly. I am still trying to learn not to just 'hide away' from someone I dislike. Like me, Elena has problem with trusting boys because of her experience, but she was proven wrong as the boys are the opposite of what she thought of them. So my message is to trust others and try to see them in a new surface. There may be something you don't know about them.**

**Before we end this, I like to thank again ****_Infinite's Ruby _(Elena), _OctoReader _(Jace), _The Real Don Steele _(Lucy), _SecretStarr101_ (Alissa), _SuperKirbyLand234 _(Damien), _Z__oggerific _(Sven)_, The Sensational SpiderDom321_ (Spider) and _TheGameNguyener _(Barrett) for helping me out for this story. I hope you all enjoy the story and see your characters. If there are any concerns you like to address, please let me know.**

**I like to thank all the readers (you!) for reading this story. This means a lot to me.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this story and as to the authors who made the characters, again thank you for helping out and call me in case there are any concerns you want to address. If you like this story, please follow or favorite this story for updates. Please review this chapter on what you thought of this story. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).**

**The story NEVER ends there! I am planning a sequel and I have some key ideas, but I need help to make a STRONG plot point that will be the main problem of the story. I like to have some story requests for the sequel, so give me some ideas in the review comment section or PM me. As usual, i****f you want me to put in YOUR OC for the sequel, please go to my profile for instructions or go to this forum link (or at least what is left of it below).**

**forum/All-Star-OC-Submission-for-Upcoming-Stories/224233/**

**Also, check out my other stories; _Forces United - Dark Wolf Begins _and _Resist The Dark_, and _Inlcredible - A Fresh Start_. Stay tune for the rewrite of the first story of _Dark Wolf Begins_ and _Forces United 3_. Hopefully, those two upcoming stories won't be all crap. **

**Unfortunately, I'm having trouble writing Inkcreidible 2**** because I haven't been checking out on Splatoon and I didn't have the courage to write it. I just don't feel like writing the story. I will try to and I just need some time to think about it. The Inkcredible series will be put on a long hiatus and possibly end.**

**One more thing; I even plan prequels for Bendy! There will be 2 prequels crossing over with 2 special games. One of them will reveal why Jace decided to come over to the funeral [1]. Stay tune to find out.**

**Until next time, stay safe, be nice, accept care, don't do rape, don't do drugs, don't do violent actions, don't do abuse, don't watch adult content, be grateful of your life, may God be with you and watch out for Twisted Alice.**

**Keep on rocking,**

**TurquoiseTriangle...out...**


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